A Hurt Inside Oneself
by kitsunelover7
Summary: After entering Konoha High, Naruto realizes that he is not the only one with a troubled past. Will Hinata be able to help him?
1. Chapter 1

Naruto stepped off the bus to enter the Konoha High School. Kids were bustling around trying to get to class before the bell rang. He lifted bright blue eyes at the school but was knocked into. He slowly turned his head to see who knocked into him but the crowd was too thick. He sighed and shuffled forward, not concerned about getting in on time. He passed the open gates and sauntered over to the steps of the building sighing with relief that everybody had disappeared through the double doors. He walked slowly, unconcerned about getting in trouble.

He fingered his phone in his pocket as he walked to class, knowing that someone would text him and debated on turning the ringer on so when someone did call him, he could disrupt the class.

He got to his classroom, but didn't go in. He looked around the hall as though to find something that would delay his entrance into class. The blue lockers seemed to mock him as they didn't have to go and learn and get a job. They just sat around doing nothing but hold peoples stuff in the usually cramped gray hallway. He reached his hand forward to open the door and jumped because someone had opened it.

"U-Um h-hi," a black haired girl stuttered as she looked at the silent and motionless boy. "I-Iruka-S-Sensei asked m-me to come get y-you," she finished with a blush.

Naruto nodded but didn't move. The black haired girl tilted her head to the side confused.

He decided to use this moment to speak, "You're in my way." His voice was rough and irritated and he to hold back on what he was going to say after that. had

She blushed a deeper red and went back to her seat. By now the whole class was watching but Naruto just ignored them and walked over to his seat by the window.

"Naruto," a voice from the front of the room said. "If you keep coming in late, you're going to get suspended."

Naruto looked up at him, his blond bangs getting into his eyes. "Great, an extra day to sleep in. This school keeps getting better and better, Iruka-Sensei." His tone was sarcastic and the said man flinched at it as Naruto's bright blue eyes locked onto his own brown ones. He resisted the urge to turn away and ran a hand over his brown pony tail.

"Naruto," Iruka started, "It would also help if you respect your female classmates. Especially Hinata-san." His eyes were watering from the mini-staring contest and he forced himself to look away so he could teach.

Naruto stretched back as he looked around the room. The walls were covered in quotes and he re-read most of them for he always read them and ignored Iruka while he was teaching.

He then shifted, so that his chin was on his left hand so he was looking to the right and out the window. The view wasn't very interesting, especially in the morning when it was foggy out. It was the teacher's parking lot and all he would see were teachers bringing their stuff into the school. He sighed in boredom waiting for the bell to ring.

Iruka suddenly slammed a ruler onto his desk to get everyone's attention. Naruto jumped, his eyes wide and panicked as he looked around for the source of the noise. For a second he was six years old and was getting hit by his step-father, the only father he had known at the time. His heart was racing and he tried to stop breathing so the man wouldn't hear him or hit him again. In a flash it was over but he was still shaken up by it.

He looked around fearfully, and then bolted from the room with one thought in mind, 'Gotta find a safe place.'

He ran through the hallways and up the stairs his mind blank, as he went up to the roof. He pulled the door open and heard it slam shut behind him as he felt the cool morning air on his face and slip through his clothes.

He stopped in front of the door for a few minutes breathing heavily, and he reflected on how he had acted in class. It was obviously a reflex, although he was doing a lot better than before. His reactions were purely of survival and he knew that his Step-father had integrated into his system after all of the years of abuse he had suffered from him.

When he had first started going to Konoha High, he would react to every little noise although school had been a refuge to him before his step-father had died. Now that he was away from all of the abuse, he was terrified about his step-father coming after him even though he was obviously dead.

He walked over to the railing and leaned against it looking at the view of the city and the forest beyond it. He looked down at the ground and wondered if anyone would miss him if he jumped.

He felt something wet slide down his cheeks but he didn't move to wipe it away. After a while, he heard footsteps and knew that he didn't want to be caught crying by one of classmates. He wiped his eyes dry and looked out at the view his body tense with anticipation of the unknown person coming his way.

He heard the door open, and close softly and knew that whoever it was wasn't going to hurt him. His suspicions were correct when the person moved slowly, their footsteps seemingly echoing on the concrete and standing near but not too close to him and looked straight ahead as well, waiting for him to speak.

He recognized him as one of the people in his class, but he didn't know his name. He looked at the long black hair and the girlish face with gentle brown eyes.

"Who are you?" He asked turning away to look at the view.

The black haired boy turned slightly to Naruto, "We've been classmates for about three months now and you still don't know my name?" He asked, his soft voice breaking the tense silence that had erupted after Naruto's rude question.

Naruto shrugged looking over at him. "I don't make it my job to know all of my classmates. I have other things to worry about you know," he said his voice showing irritation.

The boy stuck out his hand and said, "I'm Haku." Naruto looked at the hand in disbelief. Someone wanted to know him and perhaps be his friend?

He reached over and shook Haku's hand while saying, "I'm Naruto." Now that that was done, he looked back out and asked softly, "Why did you come up here?" In a voice a little higher than a whisper.

Haku smiled gently, "Simple, you intrigue me."

Naruto looked over in disbelief, "How so?"

"The fact that you're always alone and you don't seem to mind it. Tell me, do you have someone important to you?"

Naruto looked out at the city and closed his eyes, picturing the one person that had helped him out of the mess he was in.

"Yes," he answered after several minutes with a slight smile on his face.

Haku looked at him and he smiled as he heard the predicted answer form him. He may not have had the important person for long seeing as his face and eyes were ones that told people that he was independent, but that was what made Haku worried, he was used to depending on himself and not other people. He looked behind him and turned around and started walking over to the exit.

He turned as he reached the door and told him, "Iruka-sensei is worried about you, you know that right?" And with that he left Naruto in his own thoughts.

Naruto frowned, unsure about what to think about that statement. He didn't want to make anyone worried about him more than necessary, he could take care of himself, the last ten years of his life had proved that.

He walked over to the door, unsure about whether to go down or not. He knew that he was going to be teased by his classmates, since they liked to feel superior to the ones weaker than them.

He turned the handle and walked back to class.

He walked back into class the moment the bell rang, so his classmates didn't really notice his return as they were leaving. He went to get his bag and walked up to Iruka's desk. He waited silently for his teacher to notice him and when Iruka finally did, he jumped and put a hand over his racing heart.

"Give me a warning next time you do that okay? I don't want to have a heart attack. I'm not even thirty yet!" he exclaimed.

Naruto gave a small smile and laughed under his breath for a moment then his face turned serious. "I just wanted to apologize for earlier," he started, the words sounding fake in his ears as though he didn't mean them when he really did. "For disrupting the class. I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry," he finished with a bow and looked his teacher in the eye.

Iruka didn't know what to make of it but it seemed like he was sincere with his apology and he smiled, his kind brown eyes lighting up. "I accept your apology Naruto. Now, I think you should also apologize to Hinata-san. If you don't, I'll make sure the cafeteria doesn't serve you ramen for a whole week," he lied, using the boy's infamous addiction to the salty food as blackmail.

Naruto's eyes widened but he smiled and hitched his bag onto his shoulder. "I'll do it by the end of break," he promised, while thinking that he didn't want his teacher to worry about him.

Iruka watched Naruto leave, a slight frown on his face as he wondered about Naruto's behavior. Was he acting like that so he wouldn't worry about him? He sighed and looked for Naruto's home information, which he got from the students on the first day of class. Perhaps now was a good time for a home visit and a talk with his father.

Naruto walked quickly, with only five minutes remaining of the fifteen minute break the students got after their first block class which was an hour and half long.

He looked around, silently cursing the once empty halls. He started running and almost ran into someone who was hurrying to their next class because the warning bell had just rung. He quickly apologized and looked around knowing that he only had minutes to spare before he had to be in class.

Finally, he caught sight of a girl with long black hair and he crossed his fingers hoping it was her, and ran over to her almost knocking her over.

He stopped and looked at her face and felt his stomach sink. Wrong girl, now what was he supposed to have for lunch?

He quickly apologized to her and started running to his next class just barely making it in time to his second block class.

He slid into class and groaned as he remembered that his teacher was Copycat Kakashi, who, it was rumored that he used past students excuses to tell the class. Sometimes they knew that they had been taken from a student in the hall from his excuses that went like, "Sorry I'm late. I was making out with my bo-girlfriend before class started," with an eye curve as a smile.

He had also forgotten that his teacher was notorious for being late. At least fifteen minutes late to be exact.

He heard someone sit down next to him and he quickly looked over not wanting to talk at that moment.

"Hello, I see you made it to class, Naruto-san," Haku said quietly, smiling slightly to show it was a joke. "Will you be running out on this one as well?"

He glared at the other boy until he realized that he was joking around with him, "Yeah, I think I'll make that a regular thing. What do you think?"

Haku looked quickly to the whiteboard as though the answer would appear there. "You know, you shouldn't skip class," he told him, looking at the overhead projector now.

"Um, I was joking," Naruto told him slightly pouting. "And why aren't you looking at me?" He asked looking hurt, feeling ignored.

Haku looked at him, "You know that you're a mystery right?"

Naruto frowned trying to figure out why he would ask that. He looked around almost wanting Kakashi to show up so he wouldn't have to continue with the conversation. He didn't see him so he gave in and asked him why he would ask that.

Haku gave a small smile and watched as Kakashi walked into the room.

"Let's talk about it during lunch, okay?" he asked softly, the loud calls of 'Liar' almost drowning out his soft voice.

Naruto nodded, puzzlement written over his face, as he turned to listen to Kakashi talking about some kind of complicated algebra equation he didn't care about.

He spent the whole class ignoring Kakashi and when the bell rang he jumped because he was so focused in his thoughts about what Haku meant. He scowled at nothing in particular and stalked off to his next class which was study hall.

He walked into class and sat down in a seat and took out his books when he realized he had no idea what he had for homework since he hadn't paid attention in Algebra and hadn't bothered to ask Iruka for the assignment, so he took out his iPod and selected a song and mouthed the words as he laid his head down in his arms on the table. He sighed as he realized that this was the first time since he transferred to the school that he had an actual conversation with a classmate even though it was a bit awkward.

He picked his head up as he felt someone looking at him, "I'm awake," he told the teacher, who had been looking at him, after taking out an ear bud.

The teacher frowned at him and told him, "If you don't have any work to do then read a book. You can sleep when you get home."

Naruto nodded as he got up to get a magazine from the bookshelf. He got halfway there when he realized that Hinata was in the same class as him. His heart thumping with anticipation he walked up to her table where she was studying with her friends Sakura and Ino. He looked over Sakura once, her pink hair reminding him of clouds in a sunset and looked at Ino whose blonde hair, much different than his own, reminded him of the sun.

"U-Um, Hyuuga-san, can I talk to you in private?" He asked quietly, his voice shaking because of nervousness. Ino and Sakura immediately broke out into whispers as soon as they walked out of earshot of the rest of the class.

"Y-Yes?" Hinata stuttered, as she lifted her head to look at him. Her face flushed red as the implication of the situation hit her. Surely he wouldn't ask her out, right? Not after the rude way he treated her that morning, but still her heart was racing of the prospect to Naruto asking her out.

Naruto scratched his head trying to figure out a way to apologize to her now that she was right there in front of him. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again. He did that a few times until he finally mumbled something.

Hinata leaned closer positive that she heard a "sorry" in his words but wasn't sure so she politely asked him to repeat it.

Naruto's face was red from embarrassment but he spoke louder and told her, "I'm sorry I was rude to you earlier this morning, Hyuuga-san. I know you didn't deserve it and my only excuse, as lame as it is, is that I'm not a morning person." He stepped back because he realized that while apologizing he moved closer to her than what he was used to with girls. After all, he never had any experience with talking to one so he wasn't sure if she was going to accept his apology or not.

As for Hinata, her heart that was soaring in the clouds not to long ago, fell and disappointment settled into her heart. She looked at Naruto and saw his face tense with the possibility of rejection. She realized how hard it was for him to apologize and smiled slightly at his attempt, "I accept your apology, Naruto-san. I appreciate it that you went out of your way to apologize to me." She said, or rather tried to say formally as she was taught by her father when she was younger, her mouth stumbling over the words so it came out a jumbled mess.

He only nodded as though he understood and he walked away quietly although Hinata could have sworn she heard a "thank you" coming from him. She walked back to her friends who were looking at her expectantly and sighed when she shook her head no before they could ask what that was about.

Naruto flipped through the magazine he grabbed and looked at it while daydreaming about ramen. He looked at the clock and saw that it was almost lunch time and while he wanted to have ramen he was nervous about meeting up with Haku, because he wasn't used to talking to people his own age and although he was curious about why Haku was intrigued about him he was almost afraid to find out. The bell rang and he slowly got up and walked to the cafeteria.

A/N: This fic is going to revolve around both Naruto's and Hinata's lives. The next chapter will be in first person pov with Hinata describing her feelings for Naruto and her life beyond school and her crush.

Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This chapter is in Hinata's POV.

When Iruka-sensei told me to go look for Naruto, seeing as he's always late for class for some reason, I nodded, ecstatic that I got to possibly spend time with my crush. I twirled my black hair around my fingers, a habit I had picked up once it had gotten long, and walked to the door to open it to see the one person I was supposed to find. The very sight of him made my heart beat faster and I could feel the rush of blood go to my cheeks as I stood there drinking in his beautiful blond hair and deep never ending blue eyes. I managed to stutter out some words, a childish habit that always came out when I was around him.

I realized he might not share the same feelings for me as I did him, seeing as he wasn't blushing or anything like that. In fact, he seemed almost irritated with me. I felt myself move back to the classroom his words not really registering in my ears, although I guess they did since I was moving back to my seat.

My friends Ino and Sakura were leaning towards me as soon as I sat down trying to help me understand that it wasn't my fault that he was such a jerk and I should just forget about him and move on with a new crush.

Because they were talking, I had missed the exchange between him and Iruka-sensei.

While Iruka-sensei was teaching, I found my eyes wandering over to the Naruto. His beautiful golden hair shone under the fluorescent lights and though I closed my eyes, I forgot what his eyes looked like.

My father had tried to teach me to remember the face of everyone I meet so I would have an easier time recognizing people that were important to the company. Needless to say, I failed to make him proud of me.

I felt myself jump before I registered the noise, my body was moving due to reflexes today. I looked up to the front of the classroom to see Iruka-sensei with a ruler in his hand, hovering over the table he used as a desk.

I then looked around the room to see Naruto looking around terrified. The sight of him made me want to reach out and hug him, to comfort him, to tell him that Iruka-sensei wouldn't hurt him and I don't know why but I almost got out of my seat to say this to him.

I watched him run out, my heart going out for him. I don't know what happened to him, but it was obviously very painful. I watched another classmate of mine, Haku; walk out as though he was going to follow Naruto. I turned back to Iruka-sensei who was looking confused as though pondering whether to call the office and report the incident or to continue teaching the class.

He seemed to reach some sort of conclusion as he told everyone to read page 81 in the book we were reading. He walked out, I assume to tell the office what had happened but I know he could have used the phone in the room. Right after he left everyone started talking at once and I just flipped my book open and tried to concentrate on reading.

The bell rang and I looked up to find Iruka-sensei back in the room and I gave him a small smile as I passed as though to say, Good Luck. I don't know why I did, but it just slipped out and I was on my way to my next class my thoughts occupied with Naruto.

When I got there I took my regular seat not caring if I was early and had free time to spend, I just sat down and didn't feel like getting back up. My body felt so heavy and I realized that because of trying to understand what was wrong with Naruto-kun, I made myself stressed. I sighed and tried to relax but it just wouldn't happen.

Why was I thinking about Naruto as though he were my business? It just didn't make sense. Especially when he was rude to me earlier, Sakura and Ino had told me what he said since I had spaced out.

What is wrong with me? Do I like guys that are rude? Is that it? I don't know but I hope I get to the bottom of it quickly because I don't feel like being made a fool especially out of some immature kid who thinks the world revolves around him.

Geez, now I'm stressing myself out even more and thinking bad things about him. Maybe he just had a bad morning or something right? He's a person; he can have a bad day if he wants to.

I sighed and realized that class had started and the teacher was looking at me impatiently. Oh god, how long was I thinking anyway? I sneaked a look at the clock and realized that a half hour had gone by and the teacher was still looking for an answer or something.

"Y-Yes?" I asked once I realized that A, I was stalling the class and B, I might get a detention on my unblemished school record.

"I asked you if the equations are equal or not. Now give me your answer and pay attention," the teacher told me. I gulped and looked at the equation on the board quickly doing math in my head, thankful that I was proficient in that one subject at least.

I turned back to the teacher and told him, "The e-equations a-are equal and they both equal out to x=5." My stutter disappeared while I was talking and I smiled confidently up at the teacher.

"Very good, now pay attention okay?" The teacher asked as he walked away to torment another one of my classmates.

I sighed in relief and realized that math problems helped me to not think about Naruto-kun. I opened my book to the page the person sitting next to me had it on and sat back to listen to the rest of the lesson.

I remembered that Naruto was in my next class, after I arrived and saw his golden hair splayed out on the desk. I wasn't sure if he was sleeping or not but when he lifted his head, I saw ear buds trailing down his chest and his eyes that had looked relatively bright this morning now looked gray. I had to move my head away so I wouldn't get caught in the sorrow and suffering that was swirling around in his eyes.

I looked around for Saukra and Ino and walked up them, thankful that they had pretty much forced themselves on me in terms of friendship. I sat down next to them and took out my work knowing that I wouldn't be able to do it at home because Kurenai had company coming over and even though they're good people they're loud and it's hard to concentrate.

I felt him behind me before he said my name and that he wanted to talk. I followed him, my hopes going up for some reason that he would ask me out. Why else would he ask to speak with me alone?

The thing I didn't understand was why he would want me to be his girlfriend when he was practically telling me to bug off earlier.

We stopped and I looked him over, and I saw the hesitation in his movements which meant that he didn't know how to begin whatever he was going to say. It felt like a slap in my face when he started off by calling me by my last name. I suppose I should have expected it seeing as we barely knew each other but I've thought of him for so long as Naruto-kun.

I realized he was still speaking and saying something that sounded like an apology, so I listened to the end of it and when he finished, I tried to be polite like father had taught me to be whenever someone spoke to me but I had ended up stumbling over my words.

When I saw him nod as though he had understood, I realized that he was trying to tell me that he wouldn't tease me about the way I speak if I didn't tease him about freaking out in class earlier.

He walked away from me and I walked back to my seat to see Ino and Sakura looking at me with inquisitive faces. I shook my head, like not now, knowing that I would get the questions at lunch. As it is, I had to feel their glares while I tried to do my homework.

At lunch, I took out my bento and was about to take a bite out of my octopus when Ino and Sakura bombarded me with questions.

"What did he say?"

"Did he do anything to you?"

"Tell us, WHY DID HE WANT TO TALK TO YOU?" Sakura finally shouted at me, frustrated that I wasn't saying to them and just eating my lunch.

I shrugged, my mouth full of food. I swallowed and just told them, "He just wanted to apologize to me. That's all," I went back to eating while my words sunk in.

"Really?" she asked disbelief in her eyes.

I just nodded as I put my bento box in my bag. I looked around for Naruto and saw him talking or listening to Haku. I turned my attention back to my friends who had started talking again.

"Maybe we should just give him credit for apologizing. He could've been in a bad mood or something this morning and decided to take it out on sweet little Hinata-chan," Ino said smirking slightly.

"Oh wow, did you come up with that all by yourself Ino-pig?" Sakura asked leaning towards her.

"You may have a big forehead but I've got bigger brains than you," Ino retorted hotly, glaring at Sakura.

"Oh yeah? Is that why you can understand Naruto, because you're a blonde too?" Sakura shot back as she got closer to Ino.

"What does hair color have to do with this?" Ino yelled back at her.

I just shook my head and chuckled silently, looking at everybody's frightened faces around us. They should be used to this by now, since Ino and Sakura fight every few days.

As I looked toward the clock, I saw Naruto was still with Haku but he was looking mad at him, like Haku was saying something that he didn't want to hear. I felt like going over there to listen to what they were talking about but I knew that I would be eavesdropping and it would be impolite of me to barge into what looked like a pretty private conversation.

I turned my attention back to Ino and Sakura without looking at the clock and listened to them talking about fashion, their fight already over with.

After my last class, I walked over to the bike rack and while unchaining my bike, saw Naruto looking over with a look akin to jealousy. I only smiled at him as he turned to board the bus.

I think I understood his look, seeing as that had been me not too long ago. The noise and the cramped feeling of being on a bus is exactly why I had asked Kurenai permission to get a job and buy myself a bike so I don't have to deal with that hassle anymore.

I got on after the buses drove away and pedaled slowly on the bike path that was built with students in mind. Or that's what the sign at the beginning said anyway. I lazily stuck my arm out to show that I was going left and as I turned, heard a banging on the handle bars and realized that I was so caught up with thinking about Naruto, I forgot to put my helmet on. I don't know why I didn't notice it before, but maybe I was just too caught up in my thoughts.

I finally got home and while putting my bike away in the garage, looked up at the sky. It was so blue and the sun was warm and inviting. After I finished putting my bike away, I left a note for Kurenai and changed out of my uniform to a simple tee-shirt and shorts and left to go to the park.

Even though it was a beautiful day, the park was empty. Silently grumbling under my breath about video games and the like, I sat down on a swing and closed my eyes as I pumped my legs slowly at first and then faster as I imagined I was flying.

I stayed there until dark and shivering slightly as it had cooled down. I went to leave when I heard a silent sob. Curious but cautious as well, a girl can't be too careful at night; I walked over to where I believed the noise was coming from.

Crouched down in the gazebo was Naruto, his hands covering his face. I felt my heart go out to him again and this time I made a move. I walked over to him, slowly and silently so as not to startle him, and sat down next to him. I wasn't surprised that he threw his arms around me, but what he said startled me.

"You're the best, Hyuuga-san." I sat there in shocked silence until he let go of me. He moved away a little and with his face turned away, told me, "Don't tell anyone about this, you hear?" I nodded my face red. I was grateful for the dark but I was still cold. He must have seen me shivering under the dim light of the street lamp or something because he took off his sweatshirt. When he did that, I saw a glimpse of his stomach and thought I saw a spiral on it.

I jumped when he thrust his orange sweatshirt towards me. "You're cold right?" he asked. "Then put this on."

I slowly took a hold of it and while putting it on I inhaled his musky smell and felt the warm fabric heat up my skin.

"T-thank you," I told him as I tried to stop my stutter from coming out.

He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "You shouldn't be out here alone anyway. What the hell were you thinking?" He asked gruffly, the same irritation from this morning coming through again.

"I'm sorry," I said so softly, that I could barely hear myself.

"It's alright, I suppose. Just think next time okay?" He asked me, eyeing me up and down.

I nodded, embarrassed that I was being told how to take care of myself by someone my own age.

"Uzumaki- kun," I started pleased with myself that I wasn't stuttering. Maybe it was the fact that it was dark out and I couldn't see his face very well.

"Wh- what is your favorite food?" I had started to ask him why he was crying, but I freaked out and asked him a different question.

He looked like he was expecting something different than that and but I saw a small smile in the dim light and knew I had done the right thing and not asked him about it. Maybe he'll tell me one day or maybe I'll never know.

I looked at him and found him looking at me. When he saw me looking, he blurted out, "Why ramen of course. I thought everyone knew that." I giggled at his enthusiasm glad that he was talking to me.

I suppose that he just needed someone to come and bring him out of his shell. He probably doesn't know how to start a proper conversation, so he wants someone to start one with him. That's what Ino and Sakura had done for me. They had showed me how to communicate with other people.

I stood up, looking around for a clock to see what time it was, when I didn't see one I noticed Naruto had gotten up too and had stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Are you cold?" I asked, not wanting to take off his sweatshirt just yet.

He looked at me and shook his head no. I turned to walk away when Naruto suddenly speak up, "Hey Hyuuga-san, you're friends with Haruno- chan right?"

I felt my blood freeze as I turned back to face him. He liked Sakura? I felt my face burn with anger as I dashed away all of my daydreams of us going out. I nodded slowly, afraid that if I opened my mouth, I would say something I would regret later.

I heard the smile in his voice as he started talking but I tuned him out and wondered what he liked about Sakura. Was it because she was pretty or her personality? I realized that he wouldn't go out with someone like me, no matter how hard I tried.

I realized he was trying to get my attention when I saw his hand waving in front of my face.

"Yes?" I asked my voice harder than I expected it to be.

He kind of flinched back for a second there, but then got his wits together and asked me a question, "Do you want me to walk you home?"

I hesitated for a second but then realized that this was safer than being on my own in the streets. I nodded, and we started walking towards my house.

"Um, Hyuuga-san," Naruto started, "I was wondering if you would let me go out with Haruno-chan?"

Was that just me or did I just hear a quiver in his voice while he asked me that question? I looked down at my feet and asked, "Why are you asking me? Shouldn't you ask her?" I think he noticed that I didn't sound too happy with that question, but he pushed on.

"I just want to make sure that you and Yamanaka-san are okay with me dating Haruno-chan," he explained.

Inside I was mad, but on the outside I was calm and collected. "Do what you want, I don't care. But if you hurt her," I looked at him and he flinched back, "You will pay the consequences."

I heard him gulp and laughed. "Well, that's what Ino-chan would say anyway. Me, I'll just ask you to not hurt her. Can you do that for me?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out, so he just settled for a nod.

I noticed my house and walked faster, wanting to let Kurenai know where I was. I stopped suddenly and Naruto kept going for a few steps then stopped.

"Why'd you stop?" he asked me, curiosity in his voice.

"I'm home," I told him unsure of what I should do. Should I wait and see if he offers to walk me to the steps or should I just say bye and go inside? I took a step towards the steps and he followed me. My heart was beating faster; I've never been walked home by a boy before. I stopped on the steps and he stopped too.

I turned to look at him and bowed as I told him, "Thank you for walking me home tonight." I stuttered a few times, but it hadn't been like earlier today when I tried to tell him that I accepted his apology.

I opened the door and stepped in, grateful that I could hide my burning face from him.

Later, I laid in bed after Kurenai lectured me on coming home at a reasonable hour. I know I should be grateful that she's letting me live with her after my father died in a car accident, but honestly, I feel like I'm getting in her way.

I closed my eyes and opened them slowly, looking around wondering if I should rearrange it. I haven't done that in the year and a half that I've lived here. I felt my eyes shutting while thinking about it, and I succumbed to sleep.

A/N: Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto looked at his house, hiding in the shadows. Was it safe to go in? Was Minato still mad at him for accidentally destroying the picture of his mother?

He thought back to what Haku had told him during their talk at lunch, '_Don't be afraid to sho_w yo_ur feelings, especially to those precious to you.' _

Did that mean that Hinata was precious to him because she he cried on her? Or was it because she reminded him of his mother?

His mom would always comfort him after his step-father had either left or passed out after taking his anger out on him. He frowned; the questions were swirling around in his head. Should he trust Minato to not hurt him and go in? After all, all Minato had done was yell at him to get out of his house. Maybe he had calmed down enough to think about what had happened. He decided to use Haku's advice and trust Minato. After all, he had helped him out in a tough time.

He shivered and made his decision. If Minato was going to hurt him, he would just run away. He didn't know where yet although a small voice in the back of his head was saying, 'Hinata's place.' Thinking he might be losing it, he shook his head as though trying to clear his thoughts.

Why would he like Hinata? He liked Sakura. He liked her laugh and her smile. Her unusual pink hair and the way she treated everyone around her with kindness.

Although, he had a nagging feeling that he had disappointed Hinata somehow, but he couldn't figure out how.

With those thoughts he found himself walking to his door and glancing over at the car port and saw that Minato was still home. His heart pounded as he scratched his back, feeling his fingers go over uneven skin. Scars, which were given to him by his step-father.

Before he opened the door he hesitated but then jumped when the door opened. 'Shit, that means he saw me,' Naruto thought desperation running through his mind.

He instinctively threw his arms over his face, fearing the inevitable attack. He felt his heart speed up and the instinct to run. He turned, or tried to, but he was crushed into a hug.

'What?' His thoughts were hazy and he found he couldn't concentrate on anything other than the hug.

When Minato let him go, he stumbled back, wary of the older man.

'He told me to leave and never come back, surely this is a trick right?' He thought as Minato looked at him with an expression of confusion.

"Minato," Naruto started, his voice shaking slightly. "What are you doing? Shouldn't you be mad?"

Several emotions flew across Minato's face as he realized that Naruto was afraid of him.

'What did his step-father do to him? Why didn't Kushina help him?' Were the thoughts that were running through his mind as he looked at the boy who looked so like him, but was so different at the same time.

He realized that Naruto had started sneaking away, afraid of his reaction. When he spoke his voice was soft, "Naruto, its okay. I'm not mad at you. I'm sorry I had taken my anger out at you. You know that I care about you, and I don't know what had happened to you in the past, but I know you now and I'm not going to ruin it by you accidentally breaking my favorite picture of your mother," with that he finished and looked at Naruto with pleading eyes.

Naruto's expression was one between shock and bewilderment. Should he trust this man or not?

He took a step towards the house, but stopped at the steps in front of Minato.

"Please move," he said softly, finally understanding what Haku had told him. He should trust everyone around him to some degree. The people that were precious to him especially.

Minato stepped aside and watched his only son walk into his house. It wasn't the first time he did it, he knew that, but Minato felt that Naruto had crossed an unseen barrier in his life and that he had made some kind of progress.

He went to bed, happy that Naruto had found some trust in him. He didn't understand what had happened but he was proud of Naruto. Minato felt that he was finally growing up and opening himself up to other people.

When Naruto woke up the next morning, he looked at the gray skies outside his window.

He was usually depressed on days like these, because it was hard to be happy when the day was dull and gray. But this morning, he felt a bubble of happiness swell up in his chest as he got ready for school.

Minato believed in him, and though he should have known that all along, Naruto knew that that information would help him stop walking on eggshells around Minato all the time.

When Naruto had first moved in, Minato had seemed distant and although he was nice to him, he hadn't been comfortable with talking or trying to bond with Minato since then. Minato hadn't tried to hurt him, but Naruto knew that Minato wasn't exactly trying to get to know him, open up to him.

He frowned as he walked into the kitchen to get something to eat. Minato was cooking and when he saw Naruto's face, he knew he couldn't let this opportunity to pass.

"My cooking isn't that bad, is it?" Minato asked with a small pout.

Naruto looked up, and then smirked at him. "I seem to remember having to go to the hospital for the whole day after eating one of your meals. I don't think you improved since last week."

Minato put his hand over his heart in mock confusion, "Was it only last week? I thought it was longer than that."

Naruto grabbed the spatula from Minato and moved the eggs around in the pan, "If you don't pay attention to what you're doing, you're going to kill yourself with your cooking," He warned his voice teasing and serious at the same time.

Minato let a smile grace his lips as he watched Naruto. "I survived without you after all these years, so what difference does it make?" He asked, gauging Naruto's reaction to see how he would react to Minato mentioning the life before Naruto moved in with him.

Naruto stiffened a little, not used to talking about Minato's past or his past with him, but he mentally shrugged and answered in a teasing tone, "You probably hired a cook whenever you wanted to eat something edible at home."

Minato flinched as he realized that Naruto was right. "Are you trying to hurt my feelings?" He asked in a pained voice.

Naruto smirked, "I was right then," he said, while turning to get a plate for Minato.

Minato absent mindedly sat down and decided to act like a parent while eating breakfast, which he noticed was very good. Naruto must have gotten it from his mother's side, he concluded as he ate.

"Don't you have to get ready for school?" Minato asked, glancing at the clock.

Naruto snorted lightly through a mouthful of instant ramen he seemingly pulled out of nowhere.

"I'm late anyway, so why should I bother?" He asked nonchalantly, slouching into his chair even more than he had been.

Minato stood up and looked around for the phone, "Why didn't you tell me you were late. I'll need to call the school and tell them that we had car trouble or something!" He exclaimed.

"How are you going to get me there? By using secret ninja techniques?" Naruto mocked, knowing full well that Minato hadn't thought ahead to him driving Naruto to school in the supposedly broken down car.

"I don't have time for this! I'll just say your cat died and you wanted to give it a proper burial before you went to school."

Naruto lifted an eyebrow, "And what is my dead cats name, pray tell?" He asked with a straight face.

"I don't know! Bonkers, I guess," Minato was beginning to grow exasperated with Naruto's questions. 'Why is today the day Naruto decided to be all talkative and sarcastic?' Minato thought as he fought a groan.

"So how did "Bonkers" die?" Naruto couldn't contain himself anymore and smirked while asking that question.

"He got run over by a car and died instantly," Minato snapped, finally finding the phone under old newspapers in the living room.

The one thing he thought before turning it on was, 'I hope the battery isn't dead.'

Really, in just one morning Naruto was taking years off of his life without even trying.

He almost cried out in joy as he found that the battery still had some power left. Now to find the schools number.

He took one look at the coffee table in front of him and felt like crying. Why, oh why did he have to fire that attractive maid that he had hired before Naruto moved in?

He walked into the kitchen to see Naruto cleaning up, "If you want I can stay home and clean this dump up," Naruto offered cheerfully.

Minato almost yelled out a loud, YES, but then remembered that he wanted his son to get an education and not encourage him to lie to the school. Although he was doing that anyway, so Minato was something of a hypocrite.

Naruto watched Minato dial the schools number into the phone, where he had finally found it, Naruto didn't know.

He decided to get ready for school and put on his uniform which consisted of a blue polo t-shirt and blue pants.

He ran a hand through his messy hair which made it, if possible, even messier.

He lazily picked up his book bag as he sauntered down the stairs to wait for a hassled Minato to throw on a random shirt and pants. He snickered silently as he read on Minato's pink shirt, The Worlds Greatest Lover.

Minato glared at him, but Naruto just simply walked out to the car and got into it. Minato ran out of the house as he slammed the door behind him. Naruto mentally winced as he imagined the glass falling out of the door, not a very pretty sight, but then again he might miss school if that had happened.

Naruto felt himself jerk forward as Minato raced out of the driveway. Naruto could have sworn that Minato had swerved in and out of traffic had there not been an accident up ahead. One that Minato could have caused with his wild driving.

Once they had passed the scene of the accident, Minato had pretty much floored the accelerator and Naruto was holding on for dear life. The school entrance was coming up and Naruto braced himself waiting for an impact but the only exciting thing that happened was the tires squealing and leaving a long a skid mark.

Naruto got out of the car and leaned in to say to Minato, "I like your shirt, by the way," and then headed into the school at a fast walk.

Minato looked down with a bright blush on his cheeks and was suddenly aware of a woman coming out of the school, probably investigating the strange car that had disrupted the classes. He put the car into drive, not even sure when he put it into park, and drove off to change his shirt.

Naruto walked into the office to see the secretary looking outside, with a slightly horrified look on her pretty face.

"Um, hello?" Naruto asked feeling shy. It wasn't that he didn't feel comfortable with her, but it was different than talking to Minato this morning.

The secretary turned to face him, and launched a fake smile onto her face.

"Uzumaki Naruto, right?" she asked him, already filling out a pass for him before he even nodded.

"What class are you going to?" her voice was crisp and professional and it somewhat intimidated him.

"Uh, History with Iruka-sensei," He answered, while silently cursing his voice for being so shaky.

"Here you are," she told him while handing him the pass and then turned her attention to someone else.

"Ah, Tsunade-san, do you know who that was?" was the last thing Naruto heard before he hurried out the door. He really didn't want to get in trouble because his father was a speeding maniac.

He made it to class while thinking that he was surprised that Minato hadn't somehow got the car onto two wheels on the way in.

"You're late," were Iruka's welcoming words to Naruto.

Naruto almost sprouted a sarcastic comment but then thought about what Sakura might think. He found himself bowing to his teacher and saying, "I'm sorry, I'll try to not let it happen again."

After he uttered the words, he felt like gagging. All of this to impress a girl? He noted Iruka's shocked expression and wished he had a camera on him to take a picture of Iruka's face.

Naruto walked over to Iruka to give him the pass and sat down in his seat to listen to whatever Iruka was teaching these days.

When class ended, Naruto was packing up his books and while the class was emptying out, Iruka spoke up.

"Naruto, I would like to talk to you," he said, concerned with how his student was acting the past few days.

"What is it, Sensei?" Naruto asked, as he walked up to Iruka's desk.

Iruka looked up from the papers he was organizing, and opened his mouth to speak.

"I'm concerned about you. Is there any reason why you're coming in late everyday? And what about today? You came in forty minutes late! Is something going on at home or is someone harassing you here at school? You can tell me anything, anything at all."

The whole time Iruka was speaking, Naruto was looking at him with a blank stare that made the brown haired man uncomfortable.

The stare reminded Iruka of himself when he was younger. After his parents had died, he was shuffled around from foster home to foster home, and he used to wear that same look whenever he got into trouble. So to see Naruto, a kid, in Iruka's eyes, to have that same stare, just frightened him.

Naruto then let out a big, fake smile. "Nothings wrong, Sensei," he exclaimed. "I'm late to your class everyday because I don't want to be here and….."

While Naruto was talking, Iruka felt himself shake in anger. How dare this kid insult his class while smiling! He felt his fists clench in anger and then relaxed as Naruto started talking about why he was late to class today.

"….Well, you see, my cat Bonkers got ran over by a car this morning," at this Naruto turned his head to the side as though he was afraid that Iruka would see him cry. "I h-had w-wanted to give him a p-proper burial," he sniffled as he wiped at his dry eyes in an attempt to fool Iruka.

"T-that is w-why I came in l-late t-today," at this Naruto pulled his arm over his face and thought of some bad memories so Iruka wouldn't be too suspicious of him.

As he felt tears run down his cheeks, he lifted his head up and Iruka saw the pain and sadness in his student's eyes.

"Take as long as you want, Naruto. I'll give you a pass to go to your next class when you're ready, okay?" Iruka asked as the bell rang.

Naruto nodded and sniffled as he said, "I'm going to the bathroom to clean my face up."

A kind smile sent him out to clean himself up, and past all of the curious people in Iruka's class room.

Naruto slipped into the bathroom and wiped up his face. He smiled as he saw that his eyes were perfectly fine and there was no trace of him crying on his face. He considered going up to the roof, but then remembered what Haku had said about him not skipping his classes.

He got a pass from Iruka and skipped his way into his math class where his first friend at Konoha High was waiting for him.

After school had ended Naruto looked around for Sakura. 'I'll look by her locker,' he decided.

Sure enough he found the pinkette talking to Ino and smiled excitedly. He had talked to Ino at lunch and though she was much more aggressive than Hinata, she told him that he could date Sakura, but if he hurt Sakura, she would hurt him ten times worse.

"Um, Haruno-chan?" Naruto said as he approached her.

"Yes?" she asked as she turned, her pink locks swaying in front of her face hypnotizing Naruto for a few seconds.

"Um, I-I w-was w-wondering if you w-would l-like to go to this c-café with me s-sometime?" Naruto stuttered, knowing that he'd put Hinata to shame with how he was talking.

Sakura twirled her pink hair around her fingers. "Which one?"

"The one down the street," Naruto answered, as he finally got his voice under control.

Sakura considered him for a few minutes as Naruto stood there shaking silently.

'He was sarcastic yesterday with Iruka-sensei, but someone told me that he apologized afterwards. And he was rude to Hinata-chan, but he apologized to her too and from what she said about him I'd say he's pretty decent. Hinata _is_ a good judge of character so I'll use him as a practice boyfriend until someone else comes along.' She thought as she looked him up and down.

"Okay," Sakura said. "What day and time will we go?"

Naruto's face lit up as he told her Saturday and they'd meet at eight at night.

A/N: One, I'm sorry for not updating for a while and two, don't get mad and tell me that this is a NaruHina fic. I know this and I'm trying to get this fic as close to real life as possible and in real life, things don't always go as planned. But Naruto and Hinata will be together by the end of this fic. Naruto just has to realize his feelings first.


	4. Chapter 4

I stared at the phone in horror, as I heard Sakura's voice still talking about a foot away from my ear. How could she do this to me? I know I told Naruto that I didn't mind if he dated Sakura, but I didn't tell her that. Why wouldn't she ask me if it was alright with me? Didn't she consider my feelings at all? She of all people should know my feelings for Naruto, so why would she just agree to go on a date with him?

I put the phone back up to my ear as I heard her voice calling out my name.

"Yes?" I asked, my voice taking on a cold tone. It surprised me and I'm pretty sure it surprised her too. I'm usually much nicer, but my jealousy and anger knows no bounds.

When she next spoke, I felt anger swell up in my chest. I should have known she wasn't a true friend; she just liked to use people. Right now, she was planning on using him for "practice" and since I know she's had plenty of boyfriends, she's going to go all the way with him and then toss him aside.

Disgusted, I slammed the phone on the charger, interrupting her in mid sentence. The phone rang again in seconds, but I was already halfway out the door, on my way to the park where Naruto and I had been the previous night.

Halfway there, I wondered what I would do if Naruto was there again. Today was as awkward as it could've gotten, having to see the blond in my classes and lunch and trying not to go and offer my sympathy to him. But seeing his face, told me that something had happened to him and that something had given him the confidence to ask Sakura out on a date.

I sighed as my feet took me to the park. I sat on the swings, not even caring about the darkness of the night.

I stared dejectedly at the gazebo where I knew a night like last night would never happen again.

I started pumping my legs, and missed the person approaching me from behind until they spoke.

"You know, this is the wrong time of night for someone like you to be out," a familiar voice spoke out.

If I wasn't so mad at Sakura for taking the one person I had ever liked, I would have fallen off the swing then. It still took some self-control to talk like I didn't even care, even though last night had shown him that I cared about what could happen to me at night.

"Why should you care?" I asked, keeping my voice even as I slowed down and turned to face him. "You're dating Sakura now. She's the one you should be concerned about, not me." I saw him frown in the dim light of the street lights. I don't know why I'm mad at him; he doesn't know I like him that way.

He got on the swing next to mine and was quiet for a few minutes before he spoke up.

"I'm only going on a date with her for now, you realize Hyuuga-san. It's not like I'm going to have sex with her because we've gone on a date. I want to get to know the person, before I do anything stupid. I want to love the person and then give myself to whoever it is. I won't do anything stupid like that until I'm out of high school and perhaps college." His blue eyes locked on mine and I realized just how mature he was.

Compared to him, I felt immature and I realized that the only reason I liked him was because of the quiet strength that he gave off and because of his looks. I knew absolutely nothing about him, just the fact that he comes to the park at night and that was only two nights in a row.

"Why are you here?" I asked, mad. I saw him flinch back, but I didn't care. "Shouldn't you be at home celebrating with your mommy and daddy that you have your first girlfriend? I'm so sick and tired of people like you who think that you can lie to someone and then go fuck their best friend because it's so much easier than saying 'I want to have a good fuck with your friend.'"

I don't know why I was spilling out secrets like that. It wasn't right to Ino for me to tell anybody what happened to her, and even though I felt like I was disrespecting her trust in me to keep it secret I just couldn't bear to see Sakura hurt the same way Ino was. No matter what Sakura did, I knew in my heart that something like this wouldn't hurt our friendship.

Naruto just looked at me with an expression of pity and anger on his handsome face.

"Who did that to you?" He asked, a strange anger coming from him.

"N-nothing happened t-to m-me," I stuttered, afraid of the expression on his face. I saw him relax a little, but he then asked," Then who was it done to?"

"N-nobody that y-you k-know," I answered, annoyed that I was stuttering again. I must look immature to him, accusing him of something that I knew he wouldn't be able to do. I watched as his face relaxed some more, but saw his fists clench.

"I'm sick and tired of men taking advantage of women. It isn't fair to women; they fucking have a life as well, right?" He yelled/ asked at me. I nodded, kind of afraid of this man that I had a crush on. Having him defend women made me feel good, because I knew that I wouldn't have to worry about him. Although, the implications of his fierce outbreak, made me wonder what kind of childhood he had. Did something happen to one of his relatives, his mother or sister perhaps? I don't know and that was what made my crush an enigma. I'm sure he'll answer any question I could possibly ask him, but I feel like right now, that is uncharted territory. Maybe when I know him better I can ask, but not now. As it is, I'm not even sure if he considers me as a friend or not.

I sighed, frustrated with trying to figure him out. Before we could say anything else, my stomach rumbled and I blushed heavily for I knew that Naruto had also heard that annoying noise. He slowed down on the swing on which he was able to swing and talk to me at the same time and took my hand, dragging me off and in the opposite direction of my house and after about five minutes of walking we reached a small two story house. We both walked in, quietly taking our shoes off by the door.

"Sorry about taking you here, Hyuuga-san, but I couldn't think of any other place where to bring you so you could eat," he told me, rubbing the back of his head with a small blush on his face.

I walked in, noticing that the downstairs was an open floor plan and the upstairs was shut off by a door, or that's what I assumed anyway seeing a door near the kitchen.

Naruto just rubbed his head embarrassed, "It's not much, but you can eat anything, I don't care."

He strode forward and grabbed some cup ramen and got it ready as I stayed back watching him making dinner for himself. He suddenly looked back with a charming smile and asked, "What's wrong? I won't bite, if that's what you're afraid of."

I shook myself out of the trance that I had fallen into, and slowly walked over to him and looked in the cupboards for something to eat.

After I heated up the can soup I had found and sat down about to eat, someone spoke behind me.

"Who are you?" I squeaked at the sound of the serious voice and turned around to find an older looking version of Naruto.

Naruto blushed as the man's gaze landed on him, "She's just a friend, Minato. I invited her over for dinner."

I felt warmth unfurl in my chest as he said that. But I also wondered if he called me a friend because I've talked to him and seen him at one of his weakest moments.

The man named Minato, looked me over and frowned, "Why are you two eating dinner at ten o'clock at night?"

I jumped as I realized what time it was, I needed to tell Kurenai where I was or she'd get mad at me again. Even though my curfew was at eleven, Kurenai had a rule that I tell her where I'm going before I go out. And due to my hasty exit, I hadn't told her anything of the sort.

I then realized that I had completely forgotten my manners and stood up and faced the man Naruto called Minato and bowed as I told him, "My name is Hyuuga Hinata and I'm one of Uzumaki-kun's classmates."

Minato stared at me for a moment making me blush, then bowed deeply and introduced himself.

"My name is Namikaze Minato and thanks to you Hinata-chan, I now have something I can tease my son about." He told me in a cheerful voice.

I gulped at seeing the mischievous glint in Minato's eyes and saw Naruto's red covered face with a horrified expression on it.

He slumped and rested his head on the table muttering something that I didn't quite catch but I thought I heard, "Damnit, what a stupid idea of mine. Why'd I have to bring her here?"

I would have laughed at his reaction if I wasn't so nervous. I'm surprised that I didn't stutter when I introduced myself to Minato. Maybe it's because that Minato is more open than Naruto?

A thought struck me and I turned to Naruto, "Um, U-Uzumaki-kun," I stuttered out as I tried to form the question correctly in my head. Sometimes, I act before I speak and this is one of those times as I stumbled through the question, "W-why d-do you c-call your father M-Minato and not Dad?"

I saw them both flinch but then Naruto looked up at me with a strained smile on his face.

"What do you mean, Hyuuga-san? I've always called him that," he proclaimed, his strained smile making me uneasy.

I then looked at the clock and saw how much time had passed and knowing how pissed off Kurenai would be, I said hurriedly, "It was nice meeting you Namikaze-san and Uzumaki-kun, I had a really good time talking to you," Amazed I didn't stutter, I left the two with their mouths open.

I was putting on my shoes when Minato finally spoke up, "If you want, I can give you a ride home?"

I hesitated, would it be worth it? My house was about fifteen minutes away if I walked, but Naruto-kun would probably insist on going with me…. Which meant that he would have to walk back home and that he would have wasted about a half hour making sure someone like me was safe.

I jerked out of my thoughts as I realized that they were staring at me. I instantly blushed, as I remembered that Minato had offered me a ride home and I hadn't answered him yet.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before any words could escape, Naruto-kun walked up to me and put his hand on my forehead. "Are you okay, Hyuuga-san? You're awfully red. Do you have a fever?"

I could have sworn that I saw Minato smirk over Naruto-kun's shoulder as Naruto-kun asked me those questions. I think he enjoyed watching Naruto-kun make a fool of himself in front of me!

I turned to Naruto-kun, "I'm f-fine N-Naruto-kun," I stammered, not noticing that I called him by his first name until it was too late. I blushed deeper and I swear that I heard a snort coming from Minato's direction.

Naruto was oblivious to all of this and stepped back, allowing me to breathe. I turned to a red faced Minato, who looked like he was holding back laughter. "I'm ready to go home now," I said softly, locking my lavender eyes with his azure ones.

He straightened up immediately, he had bent over to try and hold his laughter in I suppose, and went to put his shoes on. Naruto-kun did too, although he looked disappointed for some reason.

We walked out to the car and I blinked when Naruto-kun had opened up the passenger side door for me and after I got in, closed it gently. I had no idea he could act like such a gentleman, next thing I know he'll be getting into the drivers seat next to me… I jumped when I saw a flash of golden hair next to me, but common sense said that it was Minato, but deep down I wished it was just me and Naruto in the car together, going on a date.

I know it's just wishful thinking on my behalf seeing as Naruto-kun is going out with Sakura now, but I just wish that just for one day, my dream would come true.

Before I knew it I was at home, I got out of the car to face Kurenai, her red eyes blazing at me and her hands on her hips.

"And where were you, young lady?" She asked her voice low and threatening.

I opened my mouth to apologize, but before I could say anything a voice spoke up from behind me.

"Aw, don't be like that Kurenai-chan," I flushed when I realized that Minato was sticking up for me.

Kurenai flicked her eyes over to Minato, and smiled grimly, "Let's go in Hinata, I don't want to be around this pervert any longer than I have to."

I heard sputtering behind me as I started walking in, only pausing to bow and thank them for the ride.

I heard a car door open and Kurenai sigh, "This is going to take all night, so come on in perv."

Before I knew it, everyone was inside and sitting in the living room. Minato took it upon himself to start talking and explained why Kurenai was calling him a pervert.

He leaned forward on the leather chair and clasped his hands together.

"A few years ago there was an office party at the middle school. Kurenai-chan was there and let's just say somebody spiked the punch."

He sat up in defense as Naruto muttered, "I wouldn't be surprised if it was you, Minato."

Minato put his hands up in front of him defending himself, "I swear, it wasn't my turn to spike it that year."

He looked around, noticing Kurenai's glare, "Um, let's forget I said that, okay?"

Kurenai, I noticed, was shaking in anger, "You brought alcohol into the middle school? What kind of sick man are you?"

"In my defense, the kids weren't in the school when I brought in, so they wouldn't get their hands on it," Minato answered, trying to duck Kurenai's glare.

"So anyway," Minato continued his story, "I had a bit too much punch and I was a little tipsy…."

He was interrupted by Kurenai snorting and saying under her breath, "I think drunk is the word you're looking for."

Minato continued on as though he didn't hear her, although there was a light dusting of red on his cheeks.

"And I tripped over my two feet and..," he fidgeted under Kurenai's glare, "I accidentally landed on her, um how should I say this, assets." He finished his face red.

Kurenai stood up from the couch and addressed Naruto-kun and I, "You two should go talk to one another. I have something to do with Minato-san." Her voice was cold as she said the last part, making Minato gulp and back away.

"Um, U-Uzumaki-kun, l-let's go to my room, I don't think we should be down here," I told him managing to avoid looking at him and not stuttering.

Naruto nodded curiosity in his eyes. We made it up the stairs to hear a loud cry of pain; I shook my head as I opened the door to my room.

I hadn't fully realized what we were doing until he stepped into my room. I felt my heart beat faster and my face go red, as I realized we were alone in my room. I looked around hoping that there was no mess when I realized that he made his way over to my 18 inch tv and was checking out my movies and video games.

Thankful I had a wide selection of games and movies; I let him look them over and heard a loud cry of excitement when he found ones he liked.

"U-Uzumaki-kun, y-you can b-borrow some of those if you like," I gained confidence while speaking because I looked away from him halfway through the sentence.

"Uh, Hyuuga-san, I think that since we're friends, you can just call me by my first name," Naruto-kun said, looking away with a slight red flush on his face.

The next words that popped out of my mouth surprised me, "Only if you call me by my first name too," I blurted out. I blinked in surprise and got a smile from Naruto-kun.

"That's great Hinata-san," he cheered with a wide smile on his face. I felt my heart skip and my face felt warm as my name passed through his lips. Even though I understood the use of the honorific on my name, it still stung. After all, I've been calling him Uzumaki-kun until now, so I wondered what ending I should use on the end of his name.

My question was answered as I heard him saying my name. I broke out of my daze and saw that his hand was waving in front of my face.

"N-Naruto-kun?" I stammered out, not paying attention to what I was saying.

"I think we should go downstairs to check on Yuuhi-san and Minato. It's late and it's a school night and I don't know about you but I'm ready for bed," He told me with a wide grin on his face.

Was it just me or was he opening up to me more and more? I suddenly felt bad about practically ignoring him when he transferred to Konoha High, but there were some rumors surrounding him and I didn't have enough courage to approach him to see if they were true or not and by the time that they stopped he had isolated himself from everyone always studying or reading some book. I think I saw him playing a game once but I haven't seen it again.

I nodded in agreement as I turned to go downstairs.

"Hey Hinata-san, are you sure I can borrow these?" Naruto-kun asked me.

I turned to face him and told him, "I-I d-don't play them all that often and when I do I usually die in them, so it's fine."

I don't know what happened to me, but I didn't feel the urge to stutter or even blush in front of him. Maybe, I was getting used to talking to him? I don't know what it was, but I felt hopeful that it would continue.

I waited until Naruto-kun left my room and I headed downstairs wondering what Kurenai and Minato were talking about. I highly doubt Kurenai was still mad at him, and they put on a show for Naruto-kun and I. Though my question is why would they do that?

I was still wondering about it when Naruto-kun and Minato were leaving. I completely missed Naruto-kun yelling at me until Kurenai placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Hinata, we need to talk," Kurenai started. I watched them drive away before I turned my attention to her.

I bit my lip, trying to think of a way to explain the last couple of nights. No excuse came to mind.

She guided me to the living room, where I sat in the chair that Minato had previously sat in. The leather was cool against my legs as I shifted to get comfortable.

Kurenai began speaking, "Hinata, how long have you known Naruto-kun?"

My jaw almost dropped, wasn't this about me coming home late for the second night in a row? I composed myself and answered confused as to where this was going.

"About a few months now," I told her, curiosity in my voice I'm sure.

"When was the first time you really spoke to him about something that wasn't school related?" she asked, her arms folded across her chest as she leaned back against the couch.

I blinked, where was she going with this, seriously? "Um, last night. I saw him in the park cr…," I stopped myself before I told her that Naruto-kun was crying. That was his business, not mine. I tried talking again and succeeded, "He was in the park at the same time as me so I started talking to him."

If Kurenai noticed my slip, she ignored it as she was thinking, presumably, about what I said.

I opened my mouth to ask her why the sudden interest in Naruto-kun and my relationship, but she started talking again.

"Why is it now that you started talking to him when you've had all this time to?"

I blinked, that was a good question. I looked down in thought.

When he first came to the school there was a rumor that discouraged people from talking to him. It was said that he had killed someone, and after a few weeks after the rumor died down, he had isolated himself from everyone.

Why hadn't I tried talking to him? Was it because of Sakura's and Ino's influence that I hadn't tried talking to him? And last night without their influence I talked to him.

I frowned, why had I ignored him when I had recognized him to be a sad, confused and depressed person like I had been before I met Sakura and Ino? The first time I saw him, I knew he wasn't a murderer. The resemblance between us was clear to me.

I then knew the answer, peer pressure. Was I really that weak to be influenced like that by my classmates? As I realized this, I began feeling more and more ashamed of myself. I saw that he was lonely, so I should've gone to speak to him.

I slowly looked up to meet Kurenai's steady gaze, "I think it was because of peer pressure. Everybody was avoiding him, and I just followed suit."

I gnawed on my lip as I thought about what to say next, "Last night though, he looked lonely in the park so I started talking to him. It never crossed my mind that I should avoid him because of who he was. Without the pressure of my classmates on me, I found that I could talk normally to him. I think the same happened with him as well. Or maybe, he doesn't know how to start a conversation," I mused out loud.

Kurenai nodded to show that she heard me, her black hair falling into her face.

"Hinata, right now I'm going to tell you something important. I would appreciate it if you kept it to yourself."

I nodded, curious. "Is it about Naruto-kun?" I found myself asking. After all, she had been asking me what I thought about him.

She nodded and began speaking, "Naruto grew up in a household similar to yours," she began. I sucked in my breath in amazement. No wonder he reminded me of, well, me.

She continued, "At first he grew up like a normal boy, but then his mother met his step-father. She married him after a little while and after a few months, he began going out and drinking. He would come home and beat on her," Her voice grew hard, "Then he started going after Naruto, who was only seven at the time."

I could feel my eyes widen as I processed the information, even my father hadn't started beating me that young. Although he did verbally abuse me, saying that I was the one who caused my mothers death because after she gave birth to me her body was weakened and she was always in bed. She had somehow gotten pregnant with my sister Hanabi and died after giving birth to her.

After Mother died, Father closed himself off and placed all the blame on me. Looking back on it now, I see that he had brainwashed me and made me think that I was too weak and not worthy to live.

"Thankfully all his step-father did to him was slap him a few times. He just left bruises. In fact Naruto never had a broken bone while living with him, but he too suffered from verbal abuse from the man, but Naruto had his mother to comfort him after his step-father passed out."

She stopped talking and sighed, looking far older than her age of thirty four. We were silent for a few minutes, me going over the information that she told me, when I had a thought, "Kurenai, how do you know this? And why are you telling me?"

Kurenai looked at me and tiredly told me, "Minato-san and I are friends, despite the fact that the man is a pervert. He told me this tonight, because he feels that you can help Naruto out." She closed her eyes for a few seconds, "I had a choice to tell you or not to tell you, but I think that out of everybody in the school, you'll be able to connect with him."

I frowned, "It sounds like you're telling me to be friends with him. I don't want anybody to tell me who to be friends with and who I shouldn't be friends with, you should know that by now. Thankfully, I already like Naruto-kun and he's opening up to me. We're already friends, so please don't say things that imply that I should force myself to become his friend," I finished amazed with myself. That didn't sound like me at all. Were did that come from?

Kurenai however didn't seem to notice, she looked at me from a random spot on the floor. "You're right; I shouldn't imply things like that. I'm sorry."

I nodded to show that I accepted her apology and stood up to stretch. "I'm headed up to bed," I said while yawning. "I need to get up for school tomorrow."

"Hinata," I turned to look at Kurenai, "You don't have to go to school tomorrow. You can think about what I just told you tonight okay. And seeing as it's my fault that you're up so late, I'll give you permission to miss at least one day."

I only smiled at her before it turned into a yawn. After saying night to her I headed off to bed.

A/N:This is my longest chapter yet! I am working hard on this story and I'm not getting any reviews. If I don't get any reviews by the time I'm done with my next chapter, I'm going to take this story done.


	5. Chapter 5

After dropping off Hinata back at her house, Naruto and Minato were home cleaning up the neglected dinner dishes. After they finished, Naruto was headed upstairs, his hand on the doorknob for the door leading upstairs, when Minato spoke up.

"Naruto," he began, trying to think of a good way to start.

Naruto turned and looked at Minato, not speaking but letting him know that he was listening.

"About what Hinata-chan said earlier tonight about you not calling me dad, I, well like I said before, you can call me that. I honestly don't care what you call me as long as your comfortable."

Minato looked down at the ground as he confessed one of his deeper secrets to Naruto, "I still can't think of you as my son. I know it's probably hard for you to hear this, but imagine this, if you live life with no idea that you have a kid in the world, then said kid is dumped into your lap after seventeen years, what are you supposed to do?" Minato looked up at Naruto, his eyes pleading for an answer or acknowledgment of any sort.

Naruto bit his lip as he thought over what Minato had told him. Could he really accept the fact that Minato hadn't thought of him as his son? True, he was having trouble with thinking of Minato as a father, but that was because he didn't know what it was like to have an actual father figure in his life. He was smart enough to know that his step-father was not an actual father figure.

But, wouldn't Minato know how to raise a son? Surely he had an idea of how to raise a teenager. He felt his eyes burn with unshed tears as he realized that Minato hadn't even tried, he had given up before he even started.

"Minato," Naruto started, his voice cracking from the tears that were threatening to slide down his face. "I don't know what an actual father is like, but I've seen my classmates and their fathers and how they acted together." He felt the tears finally cascade down his face as he wondered if he was getting through to Minato.

"I always wanted to go home with a kind, and caring father, someone that would bring me a snack after school. Mom would come pick me up, but it wasn't the same, if you know what I mean." His voice had broke and Minato had just kept looking at him, listening and not speaking.

Finally, a few minutes after Naruto had stopped speaking, Minato decided to speak up.

"I'm… sorry," Minato told him, making Naruto's head whip up from looking at a random spot on the floor.

"What?" Naruto breathed out, his tearstained face looking confused.

Minato looked at him square in the face, and told him clearly, "I'm sorry for not being there for you, now and when you were a child." His voice trailed off as he saw the look in Naruto's eye's. It was an indescribable look, but it made him feel worthless. Like he wasn't good enough to be called father or any of those other variations of that name that he had always hoped to hear one day.

Minato had to think quickly, his relationship with Naruto his only son, was on the line here.

"Why don't we start from the beginning again?" Minato stopped at Naruto's look of disbelief, as though he had heard Minato wrong.

Start from the beginning? Did he mean to start from when they had just met, two strangers that looked alike in every way? Naruto's head was reeling with these thoughts.

"Minato," Naruto started, making the older man look at him. "I, we…." Naruto sighed as he continued what he was saying. "We don't have to start from the beginning," Naruto started fidgeting, afraid that he would hurt Minato with what he had to say next, but plowed on ahead anyway to get it over with.

"You and I, even though we live in the same house, are strangers. It hurts me to tell you this, but I feel like you have to know. All of the days when we would talk or joke around with each other, I feel like they've been a lie. I don't know the slightest thing about you, and yet it hurts me here," with that he put his hand over his heart to show Minato that the two of them being strangers although related, hurt him there more than any other place in his body.

Minato stepped forward, whether to comfort Naruto or just affirm to himself that it wasn't a dream, he didn't know. But what he did know was that Naruto had opened up his heart to him and opened up his eyes to see that a seventeen year old knew more about relationships than he did.

It hurt him to see that Naruto, although young, was way to mature for his age. Minato looked up at Naruto's face and then his eyes rested on almost identical blue ones. His body gave a jolt as he saw that the look in his son's eyes was the look of going through hardships and pain that he couldn't even imagine.

All of this only took a few seconds, but it felt like eternity to the both of them.

Naruto suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe in the house that had at some point turned into a suffocating tension and bolted for the door, only stopping to grab his shoes and leave Minato standing at the spot he was at last unable to comprehend in the few seconds of time it took him to get out of the house.

Minato ran over to the door, and jerked it open, not caring it was two in the morning and yelled out as loud as he could, "NARTUO!"

Naruto ran, his bare feet slapping the pavement and his shoes in his hands, to escape the tension that had built up in the house. He heard Minato yell out his name, but he couldn't stop.

He slowed down after a few minutes, and looked around as he hadn't paid attention to where he was going when he was running. He realized that he had instinctively ran to the park, it was the place he went to to try and calm down or just get away from the house.

He frowned, it was strange, the past couple of days Hinata had been there and for some reason he looked for her even though the big clock there said it was after two.

After catching his breath after a few minutes, he put on his shoes and walked across the woodchips to the swings. He sat down and started to slowly go back and forth.

After a half hour of doing that, he felt his eyes grow heavy and found he couldn't support his head, and he fell off the swing, asleep.

"I'm sick and tired of coming home and finding the place a place a mess. Don't you do anything, you worthless boy?" A deep voice snapped at a young golden haired boy.

This was said by a man in a suit and tie, looking like a typical office worker, but inside the doors of the house, the boy and his mother knew that was just a façade to avoid suspicions of everyone beyond the door.

"I-I'm sorry, I'll clean it up right now, father," the boy squeaked out, hating how the word father sounded in his mouth. He knew his step-father was _not_ his father, but he had to call him that or else he would get a beating. Of course his mother always tried to stop the older man, but she was worn down from all of the years of fighting.

"Clean it up by dinner, or I'll throw your worthless mother and you out of my house," the man snarled, when the boys back turned, he smirked. The boys weak point was his mother and he was protective of her. The boy had given up fighting when he realized he couldn't win.

The boy gritted his teeth, as he started vacuuming the mess that his step-father had made in _his _house. His mother owned the house, but the man was slowly taking over their lives, slowly but surely and the boy knew that it wasn't a good thing.

"Damn woman, what the hell are you doing defending that worthless boy? He was a mistake from your loser boyfriend years ago, wasn't he?" The boy heard the shouting over the sound of the vacuum. He quickly turned it off and went to defend his mother.

"Don't talk to my mother that way!" The boy roared as he swung his at the man's stomach. The man just knocked his fist aside and punched him in the stomach, which made the boy fall to the floor for a few minutes.

During the few minutes, the man grabbed the woman by her long red hair and swung her to the ground.

"See what that weak boy made me do? You'd better listen to me if you don't want to look like him," the man snapped as he let go of the woman's hair and kicked her in the stomach. After the man left the room, the golden haired boy scooted over to his mother and she held him tight as he cried.

"It'll be okay, baby. In the morning I'll call up a lawyer and get us out of this place. He can have the house, I don't care about it anymore, there are to many bad memories here. So help me up and one of these days we'll be out of this house and in a happy place. It doesn't matter if it's out on the streets or in a mansion, as long as we're away from this ," at that she jerked her head in the direction the man left and held her baby tight, trying to murmur soothing words to her boy and trying to not cry at the same time.

"…ruto, Naruto," a voice was saying interfering with Naruto's memory of being held by his mom.

He opened dull blue eyes to find that it was still dark out and Minato was standing over him and shaking him gently. For the first time he could feel the woodchips scratch his face and arms.

"What time is it?" he slurred out, getting to his feet and swaying ever so slightly before Minato took a gentle hold on his shoulder and steadied him. He didn't miss the fact that Naruto flinched at that simple touch.

"It's after three, come on, we'll both take the day off tomorrow, I think we both need it," Minato said gently to Naruto who looked spaced out.

Naruto only nodded and thought back to his dream or memory. He wasn't a stranger to them, he had them every night, but it was the first time Minato had ever woken him up during one. He looked down at the road and silently wished he had his mother back and she didn't make the mistake of marrying the bastard and they could have the fun they had before she had met him.

Minato looked over at Naruto as he walked back to his house. For the first time he seemed to realize just how stressed Naruto was and by the look in his eyes, which was opposite of the way they looked that very morning when he was joking around with Minato, he was dead inside.

Minato was pained to see that look in his eyes and vowed to himself that he would try and get to know Naruto and keep that dead look out of his eyes. A surge of sadness crashed down on him and he realized for the first time that his son was suffering and he over the past few months he had ignored all of the obvious signs and now that he knew, he wanted to help out Naruto.

"Naruto," Minato said gently, he frowned when he saw that he had jumped. Was that because of what happened in his past or was he so deep in his thoughts that Minato had surprised him? Whichever it was, Minato felt a surge of anger at the man that had done all of this.

"We're home," Minato continued as he unlocked the door and watched Naruto sleepily walk through the door.

He burst out laughing as he saw Naruto in the bright light of the kitchen. He was covered in wood chips on his left side and had some in his hair.

Ignoring the questioning glare that Naruto sent him, he started to brush the wood chips off of the younger blond.

After Minato brushed all the woodchips, Naruto bolted upstairs to escape the possible conversation, to escape to bed. He didn't want any more nightmares, in fact if he could, he would have a dreamless sleep. But he knew that wasn't possible, he'd been dreaming about his past for so long, he felt like he couldn't dream about anything else.

He fell into his bed without changing into his night clothes and for once had a dreamless sleep.

He woke up the next morning to the smell of smoke. He scrambled out of bed and ran downstairs, knowing that Minato was near the stove again and ruining some perfectly good food.

He yanked the door open and went to push Minato away from the stove when he saw a person with long black hair.

"Hinata-san?" Naruto blurted out trying to figure out why she was at his house when she was supposed to be at school.

"E-eh? N-Naruto-kun?" she squeaked out almost burning herself on the pan on the stove.

"Careful," Naruto told her roughly and lightly pushed her out of the way before looking at the unidentifiable object in the pan and grabbed the nearest pot holder and threw whatever was in the pan out. He threw the pan into the overflowing sink and glared at Minato knowing he had something to do with this.

"What're you doing here?" He asked Hinata as he got a new pan from the cupboards and grabbing the carton of eggs from the fridge and some other random stuff, and filled the kitchen with delicious smells.

"I-I came to return your sweatshirt that you leant me the other night, I didn't think anyone would be home so I was just going to leave it on the porch and…" her voice trailed off as she saw the look that Naruto was giving her.

"Why aren't you in school? Why are you going around trying to do something that you could've done anytime at school?" Naruto did _not_ like the look that Minato gave him when Hinata had talked about returning his sweatshirt.

"K-Kurenai let me have a day off from school seeing as we stayed up all night talking," Hinata answered hating the fact that Naruto was questioning her. Why did he care what she was doing? What about him, he wasn't in school either so why did he have to baby her?

"Oh, alright then. If you have permission, then I'm fine with it. As long as you're not playing hooky." His voice was rough, but Hinata could hear the caring tone behind it.

He put the omelet on a plate and gave it to Hinata. "This is payment for you trying to help out Minato with his cooking, seeing as he can't cook shit. And I have a feeling that you were trying to save whatever he was trying to cook."

At that he glared at Minato as he pictured the scenario in his head, Minato finding Hinata on the porch and offering to cook something for her before she could politely reject, and next thing she knows the house is full of smoke and tries to politely offer to cook and Minato leaving her with the overcooked whatever.

Naruto made up another omelet and sat down to eat it, pointedly glaring at Minato and basically telling him to get his own breakfast.

"Naruto," Minato began making Naruto's head snap up, "one of your teachers called, a Iruka-sensei I believe and he's coming over tonight to discuss how you're doing in his class. You'll need to be here to cook, so no going out tonight, okay?"

Naruto mutely nodded, but wished that he could go to the park and hang out there again.

Hinata's heart dropped, she wouldn't be able to see Naruto at the park again, that was beginning to be her favorite time now. To be able to talk to her crush for about an hour or so and then head home. That made her day, especially now that she felt like her friendship with Ino and Sakura was fading away after a few days of actually knowing Naruto, it made her feel that they were too immature for there age.

Hinata still couldn't forgive Sakura for what she had done to her. She was just a user and a backstabbing bitch and until she could prove herself to Hinata, she wouldn't be getting the friend of the year award anytime soon.

Naruto finished his breakfast and started in on the dishes in the sink and put them into the dish washer.

He turned to Hinata, "I hope you don't mind putting your plate away, I'm going to clean up the house for tonight. Do what you want to do, I don't care."

Hinata nodded, while wondering why he was distancing himself from her. Or maybe he was different when they were alone, she thought as she watched him pick up a bunch of newspapers revealing there to be a coffee table underneath all of the junk.

She put her plate in the dishwasher and started picking up books strewn about the place, stacking them into a neat pile until she felt a hand on her wrist. At first she was afraid that he would tell her off for helping him clean, but instead he pointed to where they belonged and she brought them over, straightening up the bookshelf.

They worked this way for a couple of hours idly chatting here and there until Naruto collapsed on the sofa and put his feet on the now clean coffee table.

"Thanks for the help, Hinata-chan," he told her not paying attention to what he was saying. The last couple of hours they had talked while cleaning and Naruto found out that Hinata liked to try and make her own medicine from herbs that she had studied and her dream job was to be a teacher where she could help out kids with different disabilities.

His stomach growled and he got up to make lunch. He looked at Hinata to ask her what she wanted for lunch, but he suddenly found he couldn't speak for the look Hinata was giving him.

Why was she looking at him so intently, with the look of pity etched into her face? He shook his head to clear his thoughts, surely she didn't know about his past. He was careful with who to tell and how much he would tell. Take Minato for example, he lied to him about the amount of abuse he had actually suffered. He lied because he didn't know the man all to well when he told him at therapy.

Naruto forced her look out of his mind, and started to make lunch. He was so absorbed in making lunch, that when Hinata broke the silence, he jumped and almost cut himself with the knife he was using.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata started, raising her gaze from the floor to Naruto's back.

"Yes, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked not paying attention to the honorific he was using.

Hinata felt her cheeks go warm as she heard him say her name like that twice in one day, but she was determined to ask her question, so she blocked it out of her mind and spoke up again.

"W-why a-are y-you so concerned with me missing school? Aren't you missing it yourself?" She asked, glad that she had gathered up her courage to ask such a simple question.

Naruto felt his shoulders slump, but knew she had a valid point. He put the food on separate plates and placed them on the table and waited until Hinata came over and start eating until he started in.

He knew he had to answer the question, seeing as it was the polite thing to do, but how should he begin?

Finally, he swallowed and cleared his throat out of nervousness, but caused Hinata to look up all the same.

"I-I, when I was in middle school," he began, trying to sort his words out. "I almost dropped out of school and run away from home and get a job, y'know?"

Hinata had her full attention on him now, making him uncomfortable.

"I was in the office to talk to the principal, and then a kid walked in with his parents happy because he got to go to a regular school rather than be home schooled by his parents. And while that may not mean all that much to anybody else, it hit me. I realized that I was going to mess up my life because of some stupid family problems. That day on, I became more focused in class and became one of the top students. I owe my future to that kid, and if I knew his name then I'd tell him thank you."

Naruto stopped talking when he realized that Hinata was crying. He got up, and immediately knew how she and Minato felt when they saw him crying. Alone and confused he tried his best to comfort her.

"Hinata-chan?," Naruto asked confused by the sudden onslaught of tears.

"I, Naruto-kun," Hinata struggled to say more but it was lost in her loud sobs.

Naruto went over to her and awkwardly put his hand on her shoulder. Hinata in turn flung into him and Naruto put both arms around her in a hug.

Although confused as to why she was crying, Naruto still tried his best to comfort her by rubbing her back and whispering comforting words into her ear.

After a few minutes, they drew apart, and Hinata's hands were somehow on his chest and she slowly took them off until her fingertips was the last thing on his chest and Naruto felt a shiver go through his body as she brought them down to her sides.

"Hinata-chan, why were you crying?" Naruto asked concerned, his eyes roving over her face.

Hinata gave a little hiccup and managed a watery, shaky smile. "I-I'm f-fine, N-Naruto-kun," she tried to reassure him for he kept staring at her intently.

"No, you're not," Naruto told her firmly as he sat her down in the chair behind her.

Hinata looked at him in surprise, 'Why is he so concerned about me? Isn't he dating Sakura? Have they talked since he asked her out?' Those thoughts circled her mind and she knew that she was jealous of her pink haired friend.

Naruto looked at Hinata and saw her confused look, he sighed and began to explain himself.

"Look, if you're crying, then something is wrong, right? I know that much anyway. I may not be much of a friend or anything like that to you, but I want to get to know my classmates, little by little. Haku has opened my eyes to the truth." Here he shifted uncomfortably, his blue eyes locking onto pale lilac.

"He told me that people need bonds, and without them we suffer. I think I've been given another chance at life by living with Minato."

At Hinata's quick look he hastened to explain, "I'm not talking about school or anything like that. I'm talking about making different bonds in life. I never really got that chance before and now I have you, Haku and Sakura in my life. As I grow more and more confident in myself I'll create more, but I think three is enough for now."

"What about Namikaze-san?" Hinata asked, her quiet voice breaking the few seconds of silence that had surrounded them.

Naruto frowned, confused he asked her what she meant by that.

"I, you said you only need three bonds right now, but it looks like you don't know Namikaze-san very well. Am I right?" Hinata didn't know where her new-found confidence came from, but found the freedom to speak with him freely exhilarating. For once she could talk to him like he was another person and it wasn't dark out.

Naruto bit his lip, how was his relationship with Minato? True they were nowhere as close as they should be but how close was that anyway? Finally Naruto realized with a sinking feeling in his heart that he was closer to Hinata, someone he didn't start talking to up until a few days ago than with someone he'd lived with for a few months.

After a lengthy silence, Naruto decided to change the subject.

"Why _were_ you crying? You never did tell me."

Hinata saw what he was doing and opened her mouth to tell him despite the fact that he was avoiding her question, when she remembered that just the other night she was watching Naruto cry and he told her not to tell anybody about it.

"Why should I tell you?" Hinata demanded, her hands on her hips as she got up making Naruto step back in confusion.

'What's gotten into her?' Naruto thought frowning slightly. She was what one what one of his of classmates called troublesome. More than once he was heard to say "Troublesome women" in class.

'What was his name again?' Naruto asked himself before noticing that Hinata was still looking for an answer.

Gulping nervously, he answered her question with a question. "What do you mean?"

Hinata's eyes pinned him in one place as she explained. "The other night I found you crying alone in the park, and you asked me not to tell anyone. At that time I was to polite to ask you why you were crying, and you never told me. So my question is, why should I tell you?"

Naruto gulped as he stepped back, a woman's wrath was something even the bravest man could cower under. He just chucked nervously, while scratching his head, "Y-yeah, about that…." his voice trailed of at Hinata's glare. Seriously, what had gotten into her?

Hinata glared at Naruto, but as she was she asked herself, 'Why am I taking my anger out on Naruto-kun? It's Sakura I'm mad at, not him. He didn't betray me like she did. She knows I like Naruto-kun and didn't consider my feelings when accepted his invitation to go on a date.'

Hinata felt her glare soften and felt embarrassed showing that side of herself to him. She turned her head away quickly and felt her cheeks warm up with an embarrassed flush.

Naruto hadn't noticed her embarrassment as he had closed his eyes and tried to think of a good excuse to tell her.

"W-well, um, you see," he started to say, opening his eyes to look her in the eye only to see her looking away from him.

He bit his lip, unsure if she was still mad at him or if she was too angry to even look at him.

He opened his mouth again only to hear, "I-I'm sorry, N-Naruto-kun," she stuttered out as she moved away from him and headed over to the door.

"I-I've got to head h-home now, I'll talk to you later," With that she pulled her shoes on and left Naruto with his mouth hanging open.

Hinata felt horrible leaving him like that, but it was for the best, she reasoned in the back of her mind. She wouldn't be hurting herself or him, he didn't know the reason that she had been crying was because of the fact that Naruto felt like giving up so early in his life. When she had heard that he was abused when he was younger the previous night, and hearing his admission to wanting to drop out of middle school, it just made her sad.

She couldn't tell him because she had promised Kurenai that she wouldn't tell Naruto that she knew about his horrific past. Just thinking about it, made her want to cry again. She shook her head as she let herself in her house, she wouldn't think about him again. Not until the next time she saw him anyway. With that thought in mind, she started in on her weekend homework.

Naruto frowned at Hinata's hasty exit, but decided not to question it, seeing as he had to plan a dinner menu and buy the ingredients in less than three hours.

He left the store, his eyes squinting in the afternoon sunlight, knowing that Minato would be frantic if he hadn't started dinner soon.

Once back at his house he quickly prepped some fish and put rice in their rice cooker.

He waited until Minato came home, and when he did he was ushering a smaller man into the house, laughing at some kind of joke.

Iruka walked in and immediately greeted Naruto, "Ah, Naruto-kun, I missed you in class today."

Naruto only looked at the floor and mumbled something akin to an excuse. It wasn't that he was afraid of his teacher, but…he didn't want the man to find that his family was dysfunctional as well. It'd be better if Iruka hadn't invited himself over, but the man was just doing his job, right?

Those thoughts flowed through his mind as he set the table and heard his teacher and Minato talking softly in the living room.

While Naruto was busy in the kitchen, Iruka was talking to Minato while looking around the house. 'It's a pretty clean house,' Iruka thought, 'But there are no pictures on the walls of either of them and it doesn't look like a woman has lived here for quite a while, if ever in fact.'

He started listening in to what Minato was saying again, "…Naruto cooks the meals in this house," the older man said with a laugh. "Of course when I try to cool something, it always turns out burned." He explained to the perplexed expression on Iruka's face.

"Of course, he must have learned it from his mother," Minato explained easily talking about his past girlfriend.

"What happened to his mother?" Iruka asked trying to tie in the fact that Minato, having lived in the community for so long, and not showing any signs of a child suddenly had one living with him.

Minato's face suddenly closed in on itself, something that Iruka noticed immediately.

Minato bit his lip as he looked over at his look-alike. "She left me," he whispered, his voice hoarse and dry all of a sudden.

Iruka opened his mouth to apologize but Minato kept on explaining. "She left me," he said again his voice was stronger and Iruka could hear a story coming with it this time so he kept his mouth shut.

"I'll start with how I met her," he started his voice quiet. "She was a fiery woman, strong willed and was a tomboy. We met each other in high school, senior year," he let out a little laugh as he continued explaining, "She wouldn't have the time of day with me, but I kept persisting and she finally agreed. We went on a few dates, and then we just called each other boyfriend and girlfriend. After high school we went to the same college and shortly after we graduated, we moved into an apartment together and that's where it went downhill. One day she came up to me and told me that she wasn't ready to settle down yet, as we had been talking about our future together at that point, and the next day she was gone. Seventeen years later, a son that I never knew about was dumped into my lap."

Iruka looked at the blond man, and was about to express his sympathy, when a voice called, "Dinner's ready."

While eating Iruka decided to bring up the reason he was there.

"Erm," Iruka started noticing how Naruto's and Minato's heads snap up at the sound. Iruka sweat dropped, was he not supposed to talk at the table or was it the fact that they never talked at the table. Presumably the former, Iruka thought, he hadn't seen either of them try to initiate conversation with each other since he came.

"The reason I'm here, as you know, is to talk about Naruto and his performance in school." Minato stared at the brunet intently before turning over to his son a light frown on his face.

Naruto swallowed the food in his mouth and looked away ashamed.

Iruka noticed all of this, but didn't pursue it, after all this was to observe Naruto's home life and though it looked like he was being treated fairly, it didn't look as though the two talked to much and that was what worried the teacher.

He cleared his throat, "Anyway, as I was saying, Naruto has been doing exceptionally well in my class, but lately his grades have been slipping and not to mention the fact that he's started skipping my class this past week."

Minato cleared his throat making Iruka stop talking, "As a fellow teacher I understand what you're saying, but if your talking about yesterday, that was my fault. I was running late and because the middle school starts later than the high school, and Naruto missed the bus, I brought him to school as fast as I could." His cool gaze locked onto Iruka's flustered one.

"What about the day before yesterday? He ran out of the room unprovoked, I think this is worthy of concern," Iruka stated his usually kind brown eyes held concern for Naruto.

Minato sent a sharp, concerned look at Naruto, who kept his gaze on his plate. His lips parted and Minato just barely heard it, the silent admission, "I just had an episode, okay?"

Minato's chest seized with emotion, just how many of these episodes did he have? And why wasn't he told about them? But he knew deep down that he wasn't told because Naruto didn't trust him. The fact that Naruto didn't trust him wasn't news to him, but for some reason it hurt to hear that Naruto was suffering and wasn't telling him.

Iruka didn't hear what Naruto said, but knew that it affected Minato by the look on his face. A light frown marred the young teachers face as he knew that they were hiding something from him and yet he couldn't do anything about it.

"I'm also worried about Naruto's attitude in my class, aside from his poor school work, he hasn't tried branching out with his other classmates and his attitude towards me is poor and sarcastic." Iruka continued slipping a piece of fish in his mouth looking for something to do while he saw Minato glance over at Naruto. What Minato said next surprised the young teacher.

"What about Hinata-chan? Isn't she in your class, Naruto?" Minato asked, curious as to why Iruka would say something like that when Naruto had her over to his house for two days in a row.

"What about her?" Naruto asked. "She's just someone I talk to is all. I'm just starting to get to know Hinata-san, right now. It isn't anything special." He finished with a shrug. He felt bad about lying to Minato like that, but he didn't want the older blond to get on his case about Hinata.

After choking down his dinner, Naruto asked to be excused, one to let the adults talk without him being in the way, and two he was getting sick of Minato's concerned glances at him every few minutes.

He started upstairs, only to turn around and say, "Oh, by the way M- Dad, there's cake in the fridge for dessert so take what you need."

Minato's mouth was open in shock at hearing the word 'Dad' but somehow knew that Naruto was putting up a front so that Iruka wouldn't see how they normally acted around each other, although he guessed that the younger man had already figured it out.

Naruto sat down at his desk with a heavy thump, and turned on his computer. After checking his e-mail he got onto Facebook, to see if his friend Gaara from Suna Academy was on.

Suna Academy was Naruto's last school before he moved to Konoha, and although he didn't have many friends there, he had managed to befriend the 'terror' of the school and his siblings.

After seeing there was no one on, he glanced over at the video games that Hinata had lent him.

A smile graced his features as he saw the games that he was never able to play or afford when he was living in Suna.

After moving in with Minato he was able to play some games on the old ps2 that Minato owned, but Minato didn't have a wide selection and they weren't to his taste, so seeing the games in Hinata's room the other night made Naruto excited and when Hinata told him he could borrow the games, he couldn't remember if he told her thank you yet.

He pulled one out of the pile and began reading the back of it. It was about a God in the form of a wolf who had to restore Japan from all of the evil that was spread from a demon named Orochi. He flipped the case to the front to read the name, Okami.

Frowning he tried to remember when he picked it out, but figured he grabbed it by mistake because he liked action games and it didn't look like it was full of action, but he decided to try it out anyway because the game intrigued him somehow.

The beginning was slow but as he got more and more into it he found he really liked the game, even though it wasn't action filled it had a certain quality to it. He frowned, for some reason it reminded him of Hinata. Quiet though she was, there was something about her that made him want to know more about her.

He shook his head, what was he thinking, he liked Sakura right?

He saved the game and went to bed completely forgetting about Minato and Iruka downstairs discussing his possible future.

The next morning he woke up the same way he always did, shaking and sweating in his bed, scared of a past memory. He shakily put his feet on the cool floor and tried to clear his head before he saw Minato again.

For some reason he didn't want Minato to see him like this and be concerned about him more than he already was.

After his head cleared and the shaking subsided he got up and went down to the kitchen to find a note from Minato reminding him to take a bus to the hospital so he wouldn't miss his appointment with his psychiatrist.

Naruto ate ramen and quickly got ready, not because he was worried about being late for his appointment but because he didn't want to talk to Minato and the silence in the house was deafening.

He spent the day wandering around Konoha, stopping at the arcade for a few hours, then had Ramen for lunch, and then headed to the park so that he could sit down and relax and maybe see Hinata. A little sprout of hope erupted in his chest as he sat down in the shadows of the gazebo, hiding from everyone, but could see everyone at the same time.

He could feel the hope die down as disappointed settled in his chest. Why was he even thinking about her? He thought shaking his head to clear his thoughts. 'I have a date with Haruno-chan tonight, so why am I thinking about Hinata-san now?' He thought to himself, thinking about Sakura's warm smile when she helped someone, the daily bickering of her and her friend Ino that made him laugh quietly on the inside. He had missed the last fight seeing as he was talking to Haku, but he was sure it was as funny as the last.

He drifted into a light doze, to the thoughts of Sakura's beautiful pink hair, her smiling face and the sound of her laughter in his mind as his cheeks burned a warm red the whole time.

Naruto opened his eyes to find the sky darker than before and the park empty. Worried that he accidentally stood up Sakura he rushed to the big clock, where the time said seven thirty.

He knew it would take him about a half hour to walk so, after straightening out his clothes, he started to walk at a brisk pace, only to stop halfway to the café to remember that he missed his appointment, and that would only make Minato worry about him more.

After debating for a few seconds on if he should tell Minato about where he was and that he was fine, or if he should continue on to his date with Sakura, he finally made a decision, he walked forward faster than before, but not enough to sweat and reached the café within minutes of their meeting time.

When he first saw Sakura he felt like he couldn't breathe, she was that stunning. A simple white dress brought out her tan, and on the chest there was a light pink rose expanding from the inside out so that the light pink spread across her chest and just enough cleavage to make her look modest and not sluttish. Her long pink hair was tied back with a simple white ribbon, making the white pop out from her hair.

"Y-you l-look a-amazing," Naruto stuttered out, while wondering what happened to his function to speak properly.

"Thank you," Sakura said politely, checking out what Naruto was wearing. A tan short sleeved button down shirt, that somehow brought out the blue in his eyes, and a simple pair of jeans. His windblown hair stuck out in every direction, but for some reason, Sakura couldn't take her eyes off of him.

"Well, do you want to go in?" Naruto asked gently taking Sakura's arm before leading her to the door.

Naruto was shouting for joy in his mind, he regained the use of his voice! But on the outside he was acting as a perfect gentleman pulling out Sakura's chair for her, and talking to her seriously and telling jokes when he felt the time was right.

When it was time to order, he let Sakura go first and then he ordered, making her look at him in a new light.

Sakura had never had a date go quite this way before, she was used to guys eyeing her and thinking they might get some later, but Naruto was looking at her face, not her chest. He was attentive and when she spoke, it felt like he was hanging onto every word she was saying.

If she wasn't careful, she might fall for him and she didn't want that, seeing as she was doing all of this for Hinata. True her friend didn't know she was doing this for her, but Sakura had seen what could happen if you were so in love that you didn't notice that the person had other intentions, but Naruto seemed to be considerate of her feelings as he told light hearted jokes and whenever the conversation died down, he would just be quiet and they would spend a comfortable silence with each other.

After they ate and Naruto paid the bill, they left the restaurant and Sakura shivered in the cool air, and Naruto put his arm around her shoulders to try and warm her up.

As Naruto walked Sakura home he brought up the question that made his heart pound like mad, but he knew he had to ask her now, or else he wouldn't have the courage to do it later.

"Haruno-chan," Naruto started, he felt Sakura turn to look at him, "Do you want to go out again, next Saturday? I mean, I'm not trying to force this on you and have you pressured to say yes, but, I'm just wondering…." his voice was cut off by a kiss. His mind froze, Sakura kissed him, and it felt amazing. The feelings that went through his body at that one time, were indescribable, and the next he could remember was her saying yes and then running away.

Sakura was mad at herself, how could she let herself kiss Naruto and agree on another date? It wasn't fair to Hinata that she did that. It was supposed to be a test for Naruto, then she would tell Hinata how he had treated her. She ran the remaining distance to her house and charged into her room, and threw herself on her bed. Could it be that she was falling for Naruto after just one night with him?

**A/N: There's a few things I want to clear up for this chapter, Sakura doesn't know that Hinata has been spending time with Naruto. And Hinata is ooc in this chapter but that's because she feels that Sakura has betrayed their friendship, and Hinata takes it out on Naruto. **

**Naruto is confused about friendship and love, so every time he thinks about Hinata, he doesn't know what to think about those thoughts and forces himself to think about his crush Sakura. **

**I think that's all, so please review, Kitsunelover7.**


	6. Chapter 6

Monday morning, I was sitting at my desk waiting for Iruka-sensei to arrive, when I heard a voice speak up from beside me.

"Hinata-san?" I turned and found that I couldn't breathe, why I didn't recognize his voice is a mystery to me.

The shaggy brown hair, brown kind eyes looking at me and mouth twisted into a lopsided grin, I felt myself smile as he continued to stare at me.

"Kiba-kun, hi," I found myself saying.

He plopped down in the desk in front of mine and sat in the chair backwards, "So, how have you been? How's school, and life? Nobody's teasing you right? I mean if they did then…." Kiba-kun kept talking but I stopped listening, in fact I don't know if I would have been able to hear him over the sound of my racing heart.

Naruto-kun had walked in, and I saw him looking around, my heart sped up with me thinking the foolish thought that he was looking for me although he most likely was looking for Sakura. Imagine my surprise when he set his bag down and came over to me with a plastic bag in his hand.

"Hinata-san," he started, raising his voice to talk over Kiba-kun. Not that it was needed, of course. As soon as Naruto-kun came over Kiba-kun stopped talking and watched with interest.

"Thanks for letting me borrow your games. I, you can borrow these," he blurted out putting the plastic bag on my desk and walking away. But not before I saw the red flush on his cheeks.

I turned back to Kiba-kun, who was looking through the bag, and suddenly asked, "What are you doing here? Don't you go to school at…." I paused for a second but couldn't remember the name of the school.

Kiba-kun just laughed as he saw me struggling to remember. "It doesn't matter now Hinata-san. I transferred here over the weekend, I thought I told you?" The question was just barely out of his mouth when he shrugged and looked at me concerned, "My question for you is who _is_ that guy? 'Cause I don't like him."

I fiddled with the hem of my plaid skirt, and shyly looked up at him, "He's just a friend Kiba-kun, that's all."

What I didn't tell him, was that he was a friend that I had a crush on. Kiba-kun is very protective of me and though I'm happy that he's protective, it feels like he doesn't like a lot of guys that I'm friends with.

We went to the same middle school, but Kiba-kun had gone to a different high school than me. I briefly remembered him talking about transferring, but I had been thinking about Naruto-kun when I last talked to him.

"Everybody, take your seats now," the familiar voice of Iruka-sensei called out.

Just remembering Ino and Sakura, I looked around for them and found in the back of the room, talking quietly together. I wondered if I missed them when I came into the room and was distracted by Kiba-kun and Naruto-kun or if they didn't want to be my friends anymore. I know boys can tear apart friendships, but do I really want that?

My thoughts swirled in my head with Iruka-sensei's voice droning on in the background.

After class finished I found myself walking next to Kiba-kun in the hallway who was talking nonstop again.

"Kiba-kun," my voice though quiet, broke through his chatter easily.

"What is it Hinata-san?" Kiba-kun asked as he stopped in the middle of the hall, making people step around him and glaring at him.

I took hold of his hand, and to my surprise his face turned red though I don't know why, and brought him into an empty classroom.

"Kiba-kun, I was wondering, if you would… um… ," I started, letting go of his hand and noticing that he was shaking slightly. I decided not to question it, and was about to finish my question when Kiba-kun burst out.

"I… of course I will Hinata-san!" he exclaimed, his face bright red now. His face was filled with excitement and happiness.

"You will?" I asked in surprise, if it was that easy then I wouldn't have dreaded asking him to change the suffix that he was using on my name.

"Of course I will!" he exclaimed. "I'll do anything for you, Hinata-chan," he explained noticing my confused look.

I only shook my head in amusement, boys, they'll do whatever to make the person they like happy.

My eyes widened as realized what I thought. Did Kiba-kun like me? And then another thought occurred to me, 'Was he agreeing to something completely different than what I was talking about?'

I turned to face him but he was talking to somebody else, so I left thinking that I'd catch up with him later and sort this mess out.

Lunch came quickly, and I now had the problem of sitting with Sakura and Ino. Should I go over and act like everything was normal or should I go eat somewhere else? I sat down at our usual table, and ate lunch while waiting for the two of them to come back from getting their food.

I looked around while waiting for them, and saw Naruto-kun talking to Haku. It looked like he was trying to fulfill his hopes of getting to know his classmates and seeing the light smile on his face made my heart skip a beat. If Naruto-kun was going to change, then I would too.

I could feel myself sit straighter and though my heart was pounding with every step that Sakura took as she came over to the table, I decided I would listen to what she had to say. Sure it'd take more than a simple "sorry" for me to forgive her, but being mature about it sounded like something Naruto-kun would do.

Naruto-kun is an inspiration for me, I realized with a jolt. 'Even though he likes Sakura-chan doesn't mean I can't be friends with him.' That thought made me realize that I was being selfish and I had yet to hear Sakura's explanation.

"Good afternoon, Ino-chan, Sakura-chan," I said lightly, a smile playing at the corner of my mouth as though it was debating whether or not they were worthy to be smiled at or not.

I shook my head at the thought, unaware of the looks that Ino and Sakura had sent each other.

"Hinata," Sakura started, sighing heavily. "I think I've fallen for him," she suddenly blurted out. Her face turned red as she realized what she just said and though she was trying to apologize to me repeatedly, I got up and speed out of the cafeteria with tears streaming down my face. I had given her a chance and she blew it.

I felt someone grab my arm but I just shook them off, not wanting to talk to anyone at the moment.

"Hinata," a firm but familiar voice spoke and sent a shiver down my spine.

I turned, my tears flying off the side of my face when I did and felt a surge of anger towards him. "Shut up! This is all off your fault!" I exclaimed past the growing lump of dread that was forming in my throat.

Instead of the hurt and confused look I was expecting, he took the last couple of steps toward me and enclosed me into a hug. I felt the anger seep away as I collapsed in his arms.

A thought occurred to me when I was in his arms, was he used to being blamed all the time? I thought about what I had heard from Kurenai, and how he must have grown up. No wonder he wasn't hurt because of those words, he must have grown up hearing them. I lifted my arms up and put them around his back, and started rubbing the uneven skin of his back.

Wait, uneven skin? I stepped back, shrugging off his embrace, and horror filled his eyes as he knew what I had found. He ran off, from fear, I don't know but I do know that my eyes must have looked exactly the same as his.

After school, I walked home with my bike by my side, and I pondered the mysteries of Naruto-kun. I now know that he had lied to Minato about the extent of his abuse. His reasoning behind it, I just couldn't figure it out. I sighed, I liked him since I first laid eyes on him, but the knowledge that I've gained over the last few days has really opened my eyes to him. It showed me that you can't judge a book by cover. Or in this instance, a person.

**A.N. Sorry it's so short. I don't like this chapter for some reason and I'm having trouble continuing this chapter in Hinata's POV without wanting to write both Hinata's and Naruto's thoughts, if that makes any sense. Next chapter will be up soon, it should be easier to write now that I can have both their POV's in it. **

**Kitsunelover7**


	7. Chapter 7

Naruto was quietly eating lunch with Haku, no words were spoken, but they didn't need to be. The air around them was comforting, and the two of them were content. As Naruto languidly reached for another piece of fish in his bento, he saw a flash of pink in the corner of his eye.

'Sakura,' was his immediate thought as he turned to see where she was sitting. Since the date, he was hyper-aware of everything around himself, turning every time he saw a flash of pink.

This time though, he watched her walk through the cafeteria with her blond haired friend. He followed the path of where they were going with his eyes and they landed on an oddly fidgety Hinata. Since when was she like that around her friends? Before he and Hinata had started talking he used to watch how Sakura interacted with her friends. He used to observe how comfortable everyone was around her, so seeing Hinata like this made him wonder.

Why would she be so uncomfortable around someone that she used to laugh with and talk with everyday? The only conclusion that came to his mind was that they were fighting. It made him wonder though, would she have mentioned to him if she and Sakura were fighting? He quickly dismissed the idea and returned to eating his lunch.

A few words were spoken between him and Haku and moments after they were uttered, he saw Hinata run past him and he thought he saw tears on her face.

He abruptly got up and ignoring the curious stares of everyone around him, he followed her out.

He caught up to her in the middle of some hall, and the only thing he could think of doing was putting his hand on her shoulder and saying her name.

She turned suddenly and yelled out, "Shut up! This is all off your fault!" He pulled her into his arms to hide his hurt face. Why would she say something like that to him? He felt her running her fingers up and down his back, why he didn't know but when she pushed away from with a look of horror on her face, he remembered to late that he had scars on his back from his step-father. A look of horror mirrored his face, and he turned and ran up to the roof.

He sat on the cold tile of the roof dwelling over Hinata's reaction. What had she meant when she said it was his fault? The only thing he did was ask Sakura on a date, but he had Hinata's "permission". It wasn't that he needed it, he knew that, but being in the good graces of a potential girlfriends friends was important to him.

What Hinata had said though had hurt him, deeply. A frown settled over his face as he laid down with his hands behind his head.

He shivered not from the cold, but from the way Hinata had treated him. Why would she blame him for something he obviously didn't do? Something wet slid down from his eyes and across his temples into his golden hair. No wonder he didn't try to make friends, he got hurt by them. He had opened up his heart with Hinata because Haku had talked some sense into him about trusting other people.

A question gnawed at him, why did he trust Haku? Was it because he was desperate for some connection with someone his age? Or was it because he saw that the Haku had reminded him of someone? The questions just floated around in his head until he drifted to sleep.

Naruto woke up to the cool wind blowing on his face and he opened brilliant blue eyes to see the icy glow of the stars beating down on him. Cursing, he scrambled to get up only to find that he had somehow put his foot to sleep and that he couldn't support his weight on it.

Grimacing at the pins and needles that stabbed at his foot, he sat still for a few minutes trying to wake his foot up and trying to figure out what time it was. He groaned silently as he realized that his phone was in his bag, and Minato was most likely worried sick about him.

He tried standing up again, the pain was still there but definitely lessened, and made his way to his locker.

The halls were dark, the only lighting was the emergency exit signs. He was shaking slightly in fear, he was afraid of the dark. As childish as the fear sounded, it was a legit one seeing as his step-father had come into his room at night, drunk, and would beat him for whatever his alcohol induced brain gave him.

He finally made his way to his locker and opened it, happy that he had lost the lock in the messy depths of his locker, the slight squeaking making him jump a bit. He grabbed his bag, and slammed his locker shut making it echo in the empty hallway.

He ran with his bag in his hand out of the school, his footsteps echoing around him. When he reached the dimly lit lobby, he slowed down and looked at the time on the big clock that was there. His heartbeat abruptly slowed down as he saw that it was only ten. Good, then he wouldn't be yelled at by Minato, seeing as his curfew was eleven.

Naruto ran over to the park hoping to get an explanation from the dark haired girl. He stopped at the entrance and swept his eyes over the park but didn't see her. Unknown to him, she was arguing with Sakura across town.

Hinata stood still for a few seconds trying to keep her voice even. She and Sakura had talked after school had let out but at that time things had gotten heated and they agreed to calm down and try again later.

Hinata tried to keep her voice calm as she thought about what Sakura had just told her.

"So you're telling me that you wanted to use Naruto-kun when you agreed to the date but then you wanted to help me out?" Hinata summarized, shaking slightly in anger.

Sakura nodded, her pink her slightly covering her face and her ashamed eyes.

"That's right," she answered softly, her voice cracking slightly as she continued, "I just didn't want you to end up like Ino."

Hinata softened after that, true that she was mad at Sakura, but what had happened to Ino weighed heavily on their minds every time they went on a date.

"Sakura," Hinata's voice was soft but it built up strength as she continued, "I know Naruto-kun wouldn't do that. Seeing as he asked Ino and I permission to date you."

Sakura looked Hinata directly in the eye, green meeting pale lavender.

"He did?" she asked with wonderment and surprise in her voice.

At Hinata's nod, she began to think.

"Then why," she started after a little while, "Why did you get mad at me when I told you that I was going on a date with him?"

"Because," Hinata burst out, taking a step back in anger, "You knew I liked him and you never stopped to reconsider my feelings. You never asked me how I would feel if you were to date him!"

"Then why did you tell him that it was alright for him to date me?" Sakura shot back curious, standing up from her bed and stepping towards her friend.

"He likes you, not me," Hinata told her, the truth crushing her but she continued on. She felt warm tears run down her cheeks as she finished. "I'm not going to be selfish and try to hurt you two."

Hinata left then, leaving a speechless Sakura to think about the things her friend had just told her.

Hinata hopped on her bike and rode away, her tears were dried and blown away from the wind only to be replaced by new ones.

When she got home she charged up to her room by a startled Kurenai and jumped on her bed and bawled.

Who knew that a broken heart could hurt so much?

Naruto swept his eyes over the playground, but knew that she wasn't there. His shoulders slumped as he walked over to the swings where he sat, a dejected sigh escaping from his lips.

Why was Hinata blaming him for something he didn't do? He bit his bottom lip thoughtfully as he mulled over the question. No matter how long he thought about it he just kept going around in circles.

Was she mad that he lent her some of his manga? No, he shook his head vigorously, messing up his blond locks.

Although, maybe she was to polite to refuse them when he was giving them to her. But would that really make her mad at him like that?

His eyes widened as he thought of something, was she embarrassed to be his friend? Then she got teased by Ino and Sakura which was why she ran out, and he made it worse by trying to help her. When he thought of it that way it made perfect sense.

When he first came to the school he was ignored and called a murderer, but now that they've started talking outside of school and they got to know each other he thought everything would be fine.

He gnawed harder on his lip, drawing blood, and tasted the metallic taste of blood.

Before they went to lunch she was fine with him, but then he supposed that she could've been teased by their classmates and she ran out crying of embarrassment and not anger like he thought.

His fist clenched around the cold chain of the swing for the first time, and he blinked slowly, as though waking up. He then remembered that he had to get home and go to school the next day. He loudly groaned when he remembered he had homework to do as well.

Would anything go his way just once? Obviously not as he was confronted by Minato as he walked inside.

"Naruto."

The younger blond flinched as he turned to face Minato. He'd been avoiding the older man since Friday night.

It wasn't that he was afraid of him, per say, just nervous. He didn't know what the older man would say after he accidentally skipped his appointment. He also knew that since his teacher came over and told Minato his concerns about Naruto, that Minato would finally try to act like a father to him, and that scared him.

The past few months that they had lived together, Minato didn't ask about his past and Naruto wasn't going to willingly volunteer any information. Naruto was used to that, and now that they've actually begun talking, his life at home was changing and that scared him.

'Maybe,' Naruto mused, 'I should stop being friends with Hinata-san. She's the one that started all of this anyway.' Even as he thought those words, he knew he could never do it. Although, now that she was mad at him, maybe it would be possible.

Naruto realized that Minato was still looking at him a concerned look on his face. He mentally blanched as he realized he had just zoned out in front of the older man.

"Yes," he finally replied, frantically wondering how long he had zoned out for.

Minato sighed, unsure of how to start, but knowing it was imperative to talk to his son.

He sighed, sweeping his hand through his hair as he tried to think of something, anything, to say.

"Let's sit down," Minato decided, knowing that it would take a while. He wasn't expecting the sudden surprise that flashed over Naruto's face, maybe he was expecting something else?

He walked over to the couch, and sat down on it with his arms crossed over his chest.

Naruto sat on the loveseat opposite him, an apprehensive look on his face. He had never done this with his step-father, just sitting down and talking. And by the look on Minato's face, it was something serious. He frowned, knowing that it wasn't school related and that was what scared him. He didn't know what Minato wanted to talk about.

"How long have you been having these episodes?" Minato suddenly asked, realizing too late that he should have built up to the question.

Naruto visibly relaxed, happy that Minato wasn't beating around the bush.

"Ever since he moved in," Naruto told him, wondering where this was going, and wondering why he confiding this to Minato. Maybe it was the fact he wanted to try and trust the older man, or it was that he just needed to talk about it with somebody, anybody. His therapist never forced him to talk about it, and he was beginning to wonder if the quack was doing her job properly.

"How often did you have them?" Was the next question and Naruto found himself answering it like he did the last one.

"When he first started beating me, I used to have them all the time, but I became more and more aware of what was going on around me so I stopped having them."

Minato wanted to know how old Naruto was the man started abusing him, but he knew that whatever the answer was he would most likely be sick. He couldn't imagine hurting another person, much less a child.

Minato sighed again as he realized what he had to do. He wasn't going to ask Naruto why he hadn't told him, Minato about the episode he had in school a few days ago. But he was going to him something else, and maybe Naruto could do it for him.

"Can you promise me that you'll tell me when you have an episode again?" Minato asked, knowing that he was in dangerous territory.

Naruto stiffened immediately, and turned away from Minato, a hesitant look on his face. "I- I don't know," He said, his speaking jilted slightly from the shock.

Minato nodded, expecting that the answer wouldn't be yes, but he knew he had to try.

He yawned, stretching his arms over his head and said, or rather tried to say mid yawn, "I'm headed off to bed now." He gave Naruto a piercing look, "I expect you to go to bed too." He left to go upstairs and Naruto followed.

Naruto reached his room and turned in, he knew he shouldn't be tired after sleeping at school, but he felt himself yawning as well, but focused on his neglected homework and finished it. Shortly after he went to bed as well.

The next morning Naruto stumbled into class feeling drowsy but accomplished, when Iruka came up to face him with his hands on hips and said only two words, "You lied."

"Eh?" Was Naruto's intelligent answer. He racked his memory but couldn't figure out what his teacher was talking about.

It was first thing in the morning and Naruto had read the clock wrong and headed out the door in a rush, but now that he saw what time it really was, he felt the need to fully wake up, and his teachers accusation really wasn't something he wanted to hear at seven in the morning.

"You lied," Iruka repeated, happy that he was a few inches taller than the blond. His hands on his hips and a slightly stern glare that was softened by concern for the younger boy, he felt that he could intimidate the blond easily, but the affect was ruined by Naruto yawning and walking towards his desk, his hands rubbing his eyes.

Maybe he could catch up on some sleep before school started, after all he had an hour.

Irritated that the blond was ignoring him, Iruka walked up to the boys desk to talk to him.

"Naruto," Iruka said gently, reaching out to shake the boys shoulder, as he was slumped over the desk his blond locks spreading out in front of him.

The response was unexpected, seeing as Naruto had apparently fallen asleep in the few seconds he was at his desk. "Not now Father, five more minutes, please."

Deciding to leave the boy alone, as he obviously needed sleep, Iruka drew his hand away from Naruto at the mumbled groan and silently walked over to his desk.

Father, even though Iruka knew it wasn't geared toward him, the word brought forth a hopeful stirring in his chest. Maybe one day, he would become a father. Iruka sighed as he silently drummed his fingers on his desk as he blankly looked over some tests.

**A/N: I was going to have some humor at the end of this chapter, but for some reason leaving it with a speculative Iruka just seems like the right thing to do. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon, but no guarantees on that. Please review, Kitsunelover7. **


	8. Chapter 8

Tuesday morning, I got up early, seeing as I'd gotten no sleep the night before as I had been crying all night. I honestly didn't know I could cry that much, much less over somebody I haven't known for very long.

I walked into the bathroom to wash my face, and though I thought I was prepared for it, my face looked awful as I caught a quick glimpse of myself in the mirror. My eyes were red and swollen from crying and probably getting no sleep. My nose was red, as though I had a cold, from all of the tissues I'd used over the period of the night.

As I washed my face, I came to the conclusion that I'm not going to school today and now that I think about it, I'm exhausted.

After I wipe my face off and looked in the mirror to see how damage was left. I winced at how bad it looked, but knew it would clear up while I slept. Or at least I hoped it did, seeing as I don't cry that much.

When I was younger I was discouraged to cry, and so I turned it into anger and I released that anger in spars against my father. I now know that wasn't a healthy way to let go of my sadness, but I was just a kid, what did I know?

As I walked, or rather stumbled back to my room, my mind was already shutting down on me. I made it to my bed and under the sheets and I was out like a light.

I woke up a few hours later to a loud knocking on the door. I dragged myself out of bed and quickly went into the bathroom to make myself halfway presentable. Whoever was at the door was very persistent and seemed to have found the doorbell, seeing as the chime was just a loud buzzing in my ears now.

I ran downstairs, ready to kill the persistent idiot who dared to wake me, and when I swung open the door ready to swear at them, my breath got caught in my throat.

"Naruto-kun?" I breathed in shock, as my fist having a mind of its own at this time, slugged him in the stomach.

"OOF," he landed on his butt, and apologies left my mouth as I went to help him up.

He waved off the apologies once he'd gotten up and with a slight smile said, "I guess I deserved that, didn't I?" He rubbed his stomach with one hand and the back of his head with the other, making it look like he was hungry instead of in pain.

"Sorry about that, Naruto-kun," I apologized once again, trying to hold back a small giggle at how adorable he looked.

"It's fine Hinata-san, just don't do it again, that HURT!" He exclaimed, a small wince on his face as he once again rubbed his stomach.

"Sorry Naruto-kun, you woke me up. So why are you here?" I asked, trying to hold back a yawn.

"You're not in school, why not?" he asked, a concerned look passing over his face.

I stepped back and motioned for him to come in. He sat down at the couch as I tried to figure out what to tell him.

"I just needed a personal day today. I've been through a lot lately, and I didn't get any sleep last night because of it."

He nodded. Good, he accepted my answer without any questions. Of course he's probably had the same thing happen to him.

"Hinata-chan." Naruto began, causing me to stop spacing out in front of him.

"Why were you mad at me yesterday and are you still mad at me now?"

His question although asked quietly, made me feel like he yelled it at me. Of course I treated him badly, blaming him for something he didn't do. Because of my selfishness yesterday, I hurt him and caused him skip school to come see me. Would he do this for Sakura? That question formed in my mind as I struggled to come up with a good answer.

"N-Naruto-kun," I began, my hands fidgeting with my hair as my eyes darted around the room, looking at everything but him.

After a few seconds of doing so, although it felt like an eternity, I finally get the courage to look at him.

He was leaned back on the couch with an exhausted look on his face. Guilt gnawed at me, _I_ was the one that did this to him. _I'm_ the one that hurt him, something that I was afraid Sakura would do.

I let my chin fall on my chest, my hair hiding my guilty face. Naruto-kun doesn't deserve this, he doesn't deserve my friendship.

I don't hear him getting up, I don't hear the soft footsteps as he walks over to me, but I do feel my hair being pulled away from my face, a hand on my chin, slowly lifting my head up.

I look deep into his cerulean eyes and find myself falling into the never-ending blueness.

Finally Naruto-kun spoke, "Hinata-san, for whatever reason that you're mad at me, even though I really want to know, I'll just apologize for whatever I did."

I looked at his face, 'he really doesn't deserve this,' I thought.

The confusion on his face made me feel extremely guilty. I felt like crying again, but was it really worth it?

When I didn't say anything, Naruto-kun quietly sighed, so soft that I almost missed it. He said something, but it didn't register until he was out the door.

"Good bye, Hinata-san."

Those words alone didn't make me cry, the folder that was on the coffee table, that wasn't there before he came in, made me feel like shit. I sank down to my knees and let the tears flow once again.

Later after my tears had once again dried, I settled down to do the homework I neglected to do the night before. I tried to focus on it, but my mind kept slipping to the folder that Naruto-kun had left. Just thinking about it made me feel bad, so I got up and left the house.

I walked around town for a while, but no matter where I went I kept getting closer to the park. The park where Naruto-kun and I had our first real conversation. The park that I started going to, because in the back of my mind, I hoped to see him.

I sat on a swing, and let out a shuddering sigh. Was this truly how I wanted to treat Naruto-kun? Was I pushing him away because I can't have him? It scares me, that he reminds me of the old me. Is that why I'm pushing him away, because the similarities between the two of us scare me?

I rub my eyes, just noticing how tired I am, but I have to apologize to him. He shouldn't be apologizing to me, I'm the one that hurt him after all.

I got up and headed to my house to gather what I needed. I started over to his house, praying that he would be there.

As I got closer to his house, I felt my self getting slower, my feet feeling heavier. My heart was pounding, blocking out all other sound. My pace slowed to a crawl, as I walk up the path to his house. When I knock on the door, I'm so overwhelmed that when the door opens, all I can do is faint.

When I wake up, I find that I'm laying on a cold, leather couch. Seriously, why does leather have to be so damn cold?

I slowly lift myself into a sitting position, feeling something falling off my forehead in the meantime.

It falls into my lap, and I pick it up. A wet washcloth. Did they think I was sick or something? And where was my bag?

Before I could say anything, a voice spoke up, making me jump slightly.

"Ah, you're awake Hinata-chan. You scared me when you passed out on my steps."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of golden hair and immediately felt my heart beat faster, although I knew it was Minato-san by the sound of his voice.

"I-I'm fine Namikaze-san," I stuttered out, unable to believe that I passed out on his steps.

"Naruto's not home." My face must have had a look of shock on it because Minato-san laughed lightly.

"Why else would you come? Unless you want to visit with me?" His voice took on a teasing edge to it, which made me relax fully.

I almost want to roll my eyes and say something sarcastic to him, but it's not my nature to do so even though the urge is quite strong. So I settle for being polite and asking, "Do you know where he went?"

Minato's face took on a guarded look and for the first time I wondered if Naruto had told his father what I had done.

As Minato's silence continued, I could feel my heart beating faster, growing tighter in the anticipation that he would yell at me for hurting his son.

When he opened his mouth, I found that I couldn't breathe, until I heard the words coming out of his mouth.

"Hinata-chan," He paused for a few seconds, but that was all it took for my heart to calm down. After all, he wouldn't call me Hinata-chan if he was mad at me right?

The next words out of his mouth however, where slightly bitter, as was the look in his eyes.

"I-It's hard for me to say this, but I think you'd know better than myself. After all, you're closer to him than he is to me, right?"

Suddenly I knew what to do and where Naruto had gone. "Namikaze-san, where's my bag?" I know it was rude too ask it like that, but now, now I feel like I'm in a hurry. Like I need to find Naruto-kun now.

Minato blinked surprised by my sudden rush no doubt, but pointed to the ground next me. I would've face palmed right then, but I was moving to quickly, mind and body.

As I ran out the door, I called over my shoulder, "Thanks Namikaze-san, I'll be back in a little while!"

I didn't take the time to see his surprised face, which would have been comical in different circumstances, or to hear the words, "You're welcome?"

I know that was very uncharacteristic of me, but I just felt the need to _find_ Naruto-kun, I don't know why, but I felt if I didn't apologize to him right now, he'd never forgive me.

I stopped at the gazebo, my heart racing from running, my lungs burning, and my legs aching. I know the park isn't far from Naruto's house, but I did do a full out sprint without warming up my body. I shrugged off the pain, and focused on the figure inside. The shiny blond hair giving him away in the shadow's.

I stepped inside, my shallow breathing giving me away, although he probably heard me outside. I open my mouth, but no sound came out, I found myself hesitating for some reason. What was I supposed to say? I looked at him, he had on the orange sweatshirt that I had borrowed from him the other night, and loose blue jeans. I sighed and sat down next him, leaning against the wall. He turned to look at me, and I realized just how much I hurt him.

I opened my mouth again, trying to force the words that I most wanted to say, that were stuck on the tip of my tongue. He instead spoke first, his normally confident voice, coming out slightly dull.

"Hi, Hinata-san," He said, the sound of his voice made me shake slightly. I did this to him, the revelation came back to me clearly. I then knew what I had to do. I turned to him and the words just tumbled out of my mouth, although I knew it was the right thing to do.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun. I shouldn't have blamed you like that. I, it's just that I've been really emotional lately."

'Yeah, emotional, that's a good way to put it', I thought sarcastically.

Naruto's face brightened quite a bit, and it looked like the tension had drained from his body.

I suddenly wanted to see a smile on his face, something that would make me feel better about myself. After all, I'm the one that hurt him, so shouldn't I help heal him as well?

But what to say? I sneaked a look over at him, his face thoughtful. I shifted slightly, just realizing that my bag was digging into my back. I leaned forward and slipped it off, then put it by my side.

I sneak another look and find him looking at me, I open my mouth to say something, but he beats me to it.

"Iruka-sensei yelled at me in class again today," he said a slight smile on his face.

"W-why?" I asked, silently berating myself for stuttering.

"Last week, I came in late," he started. I nod, I remember that day.

"After class he asked me why I was late, so I told him my cat died. Of course that was a lie, but he didn't have to know that."

He cleared his throat and continued, "Then he came over to my house on Friday, of course you know that, and Minato blurted out the truth to him. Which is funny, seeing as Minato is the one that told me to lie to him in the first place. This morning I went in early, don't ask why, I just did. He then yelled at me for lying to him, but he should be grateful that I went in on time."

I laughed at that, seeing as Naruto always managed to be late to class everyday. On purpose or on accident, I don't know. Although it seems to me that he's making an entrance? My head started hurting, so I blurted out the first thing I could think of.

"I might have a boyfriend!" Oh god, why did I say that? That was so stupid of me, what the hell was I thinking?

As my face started burning brightly, Naruto looked over at me with a curious look on that handsome face.

"What do you mean?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow slightly.

I explained the confusion to him, and he started laughing, a loud happy laugh. I felt my heart lift, did I manage to help him? Just a little?

Feeling somewhat relieved, I shifted my bag around so I could open and took out the folder he left at my house.

My heart thudding slightly, I turned to him to ask him for help, but my words stuck in my throat. Thankfully, he looked over at what I was doing, and when he saw the folder, I saw his lips move but no sound coming out. I realized that it was because my heart was beating in my ears and I couldn't hear over it. The "What" that escaped my mouth sounded loud to me, but I ignored it.

I then focused on his mouth, and read his lips, 'Would you like me to help you with this?'

I found myself nodding my head, and found my voice, "Should we do it at the picnic table over there?" I asked, pointing over to said table.

I stand up, leaning down slightly to pick up my bag, but all I feel is my hand swiping over the spot where my bag was supposed to be.

I felt a frown tugging at my lips as I look down, did my bag fall over?

My eyes widening slightly as I saw that my bag was gone, I turn to Naruto, only to find that my bag was in his hands.

I opened my mouth to object, but closed it realizing that it wouldn't do me any good.

Feeling the need for conversation, I attempt to start one, "I came here earlier, but I didn't see you."

A short laugh caught my attention, I looked over at him, rather confused, but he explained himself.

"I don't live here, you know. I only come here, because…" at that he trailed off. What was he going to say? I never found out because we reached the table.

I suppose I could've asked, but would it really be worth it? Maybe it was a personal reason, or maybe he just liked it here.

We settled down, Naruto-kun next to me and we started in. A thought occurred to me about halfway through.

"Didn't you skip this class, Naruto-kun?" I asked curious as to how he knew how to do everything easily. Or was he just gifted at math so that it was easy for him to understand?

Taken aback by my question, he stops talking and looks at me curiously. I hastened to explain myself.

"Well, you have History for the first class, and you showed up after it let out, meaning that you skipped the rest of school. I'm just wondering how you know how to do this." I emphasized _this_ with a sweep of my hand.

His face instantly cleared of it's confusion. "Hinata-chan," he began. I felt a shiver course through my body at the way he said my name.

'Not now,' I thought, 'I don't to need to feel like this every time he says my name.'

"I learned this at my old school. Sometimes different schools are ahead of one another, and while that Konoha is a good school, they take the time to make sure that everyone understands the material. At my old school, they tried to cram it all into us the first couple of weeks." A slight frown marred his face as he shook his head.

I got this nagging feeling, one that I felt around Naruto-kun before. I felt like a failure. As though everything had to be laid out in front of me and explained step by step. A surge of disappointment surged through me as I lowered my head feeling stupid. Surely Naruto-kun didn't have anyone to explain everything in detail to him, so why can't I be the same way? Why am I always causing trouble for those around me?

I bit back angry tears and looked up to see Naruto-kun looking at me with a concerned look on his face.

I managed a shaky grin, and looked down pretending to focus on my work. I know I can't prevent Naruto-kun from asking me what had happened, but….

"Hinata-chan?" I willed myself to concentrate on the problem, attempting to forget about my lack of self control. Just another thing to make me feel like I'm a failure.

'I can't run away,' I thought, 'not now. I need to be strong and…' And what? What else can I do? What _can_ I do that doesn't make me seem like a failure?

Maybe Naruto got tired of all of my mood swings, because he didn't ask about that, whatever that was. He carefully explained all of the problems, while I obediently followed his instructions.

Halfway through a problem, I suddenly blurt out, "Naruto-kun should become a teacher!"

He jolted back, almost falling off the bench. If not for the table being in the way and his feet being tangled in the legs he would have landed on his back.

I started laughing at him, he was hanging half on and half off the bench. His arms were flailing around until they found the solidity of ground. His beautiful golden hair, that just moments ago was being illuminated by the sun, was laying on the grass. His shoulders were supporting his upper body, as he finally rested his arms on the ground his forearms supporting his weight as he lifted his head up.

"You think this is funny, huh?" He asked at a lame attempt to sound tough. How can one sound tough when put into such an awkward position?

I covered my laugh as I got up, trying to focus so I could help him out.

I stepped behind him, my feet inches away from his head, and bent down. My intent was to hoist him up by putting my hands under his armpits and pulling up, but although he looks lean, he's heavier than I imagined. I stumble back, tripping over my feet and fall on my butt.

I burst out into hopeless laughter, actually enjoying myself the first time since I woke up.

Naruto tilted his head back and attempted to glare at me, but to no avail. I scrambled to get up, and when I did, I was face to face with Kiba.

"Kiba-kun," I gasped, stepping back slightly, my foot bumping into something. At the exclamation of pain, I look back and see that while getting up, I had turned myself around.

"Ah, sorry Naruto-kun," I cried, ashamed that I just forgot about him.

"Need some help there, mate?" Kiba asked, not waiting for an answer as he hoisted up Naruto.

"Thanks," Naruto-kun muttered as he maneuvered his way out of the picnic table.

"Who knew picnic tables could be so dangerous, huh?" Kiba asked with a wide grin on his face. Naruto only turned away a slight flush on his face.

Although a bit confused at Kiba's attitude towards Naruto-kun now, I let it slide and vaguely wondered why he was at the park.

Naruto spoke first, "I should head home, it's getting late."

I look at my watch, it's only seven. Maybe, he wants to give Kiba and I some alone time seeing as he might be my boyfriend now.

"There's no hurry to leave, mate." Kiba's voice rang out as Naruto started to pick up some of my papers, which I belatedly forgotten about.

I looked at them both. To Naruto-kun who finished picking up my papers and was walking home, and to Kiba who was staring at Naruto-kun. I've seen that look on Kiba's face many times, the bewildered but adorable look that showed his softer side. Sure he acts brash most of the time, but there is a much softer side to him than what he would like to admit.

"Kiba-kun," I said my soft voice cutting through the quiet that had fallen. He looked back at me and looked at me questioningly.

"Am I your girlfriend?" I blurted out, needing to know his answer. His look of surprise, made me feel awkward. What if I was just presuming the fact that he was asking me earlier?

My heart beating fast, I waited what felt like an eternity for him to answer. I swallowed thickly while waiting, feeling like I was assuming it, but I needed to know for my sake.

Kiba looked over at me, a confused look on his face, "Of course you are Hinata-chan." It was his turn to swallow, "Do you not want to be my girlfriend?"

The pained look on his face, as the wind lightly blew his shaggy brown hair, made me realize how stupid I was for questioning… Us? Me? Him?

I don't know what compelled me to do so, but I stepped foreword and wrapped my arms around him.

"I'm sorry Kiba-kun," I muttered, my voice somewhat muffled as my face was buried in the crook of his neck.

"I shouldn't have doubted you, but I just misunderstood the question you had asked me before." I pulled my face away from his neck, "Of course I want to be your girlfriend."

Even as the words escaped my mouth, I felt like I was lying to myself. Now that Naruto-kun has Sakura-chan, shouldn't I move on from unrequited love? After all Naruto-kun is just a silly crush, right?

I quickly kiss Kiba-kun on the cheek, and attempt to turn away in embarrassment. He quickly grabbed my shoulders to stop me, put his hand on my chin to lift my head up, and gave me a slow, passionate kiss while I just stood there my mind numb.

**A/N: I'm back and not dead. Although I did disappear for over a year. It's not my favorite, but I managed to write it out, and finally got the motivation to finish it! Hopefully I won't take as long with the next one. **

**Kitsunelover7**


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